the Dursley s read the Philopher s stone
by Rebellwolf
Summary: The Durleys returns home and receive seven books about their famous relative.
1. Chapter 1

The Dursley´s read a book

Prolog

It was a nice day at Privet Drive. The sun was shining, even though a few clouds were in the sky. Suddenly, a car drove up the street and parked at house Number Four, and out of it stepped the three very, _very _ angry Dursleys and then storming into the house.

´They haven't told us anything! We have been hiding a whole damn year! Why, _why_ did we even have to hide-´ Vernon Dursley shouted but he stopped when he entered the living room. His wife, Petunia, and his son, Dudley, was just as stunned. Wherever you looked there was shattered things, and right there, sitting on a chair was Harry Potter.

´What are you doing here?´ spat Vernon.

´Nice to see you too, Uncle Vernon´ said Harry sarcastic.

Dudley and Petunia was just staring at him.

´Harry? ´ said Dudley uncertainly, he looked so different, but yet so like..

´Hello Dudley. Good to see that you have trained a bit, you´ve needed it.´

Harry took his wand out of his pocket and started muttered a spell when Vernon snapped.

´WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?! WHY HAVE WE BEEN HIDING FOR A WHOLE DAMN YEAR? WHY DOES´NT ANYONE EXPLAIN ANYTHING? AND PUT THAT _THING _AWAY NOW, BOY!

Harry looked very calm when he answered.

´I was getting to that. I´m here to give you an explanation and clean your house up and I have to do that with my wand, so I won´t put it away. And don´t call me boy and please don´t interrupt me while I´m fixing this, it is a quite difficult spell.´ Vernon shut up and Harry started muttering again. Everything started fixing itself and the Dursleys watched with fear (Petunia and Vernon) and wonder(Dudley). When it was done everything looked exactly the same way it had a year ago.

´Cool´ said Dudley after a few moments. Harry looked surprised at him.

´Thanks. Now, I guess you want an explanation. Shall we sit down? It´ll be a very long story.´ he said walking over to the couch. The Dursleys sat on chairs instead.

´So. You want to know why you had to hide. The simplest explanation would be that I was- which means you were- in danger. But there is much more than that and it is not so easy to explain, so I´ve made this.´ With tap with his wand is the air and suddenly seven books appeared on the table. Petunia had a look of horror on her face – there were magic books on her table!

´This is seven books about my seven years at Hogwarts. It contains everything you would possibly want to know. Myself I can´t stay, I have to go home and make sure my friend Ron and my godson haven't destroyed my house.´ he said and smiled and rose up. Vernon and Dudley opened their mouths but before they could say something Harry Disappeared with a loud PANG! All three Dursleys just stared at the place where Harry Potter had stood just a few moments ago. Vernon stood up, he was _furious._

´That ungrateful little-! We took him in, fed him, gave him cloths, and now he just disappears right in front of our noses! Leaving us here with no explanation, giving us some books instead! Like we would want to read about him and his _lot_.´ he yelled.

´I want to read them´ said Dudley.

Vernon threw him a look.

´Are you sure?´

Dudley nodded. Vernon sat back down.

´Of course we will read them, Diddykins.´said Petunia, unable to deny her Dinkydiddydrums anything, and picked up one book, _Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,_ and read on the backside of it.

´This seems to be the third one.´ She picked up another, _Harry Potter and the Philopher´s Stone, _and read on the backside.

´This is the first one. Dudley, who is going to read first´ she asked her son.

´I am´ he said and took the book from his mother.

´**Chapter one : The Boy Who Lived´ **

**A/N: how did I do? Good? Bad? Should I add some one in the story? When should Harry come back? Should he come back? Please tell me, please! **


	2. Chapter 1: The boy who lived

Chapther 1: the Boy Who Lived

_´I am.´ he_ _said and took the book from his mother._

_**´Chapther one: The Boy Who Lived´**_

LINEBREAK LINEBREAK LINEBREAK I WILL WRITE LINEBREAKS LIKE THIS OK? LINEBREAK

"**Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four Privet Drive, were very proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much." **

"Of course we are, unlikely that _freak_!"

Dudley threw his dad an annoyed glance, he had only read one sentence and his dad was already interrupting!

"**They were the last people you´d expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they didn´t hold to such nonsense."**

"Got that one right."

"Dad?"

"Yes Dudley?"

"Can I read without you interrupting?"

"Do you really want to read about the freak?"

"Yes!"

Vernon looked incredulously at his son.

"**Mr. Dursley was director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills. **

Vernon looked proud at the mention of his firm, but he didn´t say anything.

**He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck,**

"I am not beefy, I´m muscular!"

Petunia nodded in agreement, while Dudley thought that that maybe wasn´t completely true.

"**although he had a very large moustache. Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came very useful as she spent much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbours. The Dursley´s had a small son called Dudley, and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere."**

"Of course there isn´t." said Petunia, looking very proud. Dudley blushed.

"**The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They didn´t think they could bear it if anyone would find out about the Potters" **

They all three shuddered, even Dudley, who had thought a lot about Harry ever since they´d left and changed his opinion about him, thought that if anyone would find out it sentenced no social life, and probably asylum too

"**Mrs. Potter was Mrs. Dursley´s sister, but they hadn´t met for several years: in fact, Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn´t have a sister because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish…**

"UnDursleyish? That isn´t a word, right? "asked Dudley.

"No, sweetdrums, it isn´t, these freaks have just made it up" answered Petunia

Dudley frowned at her, he didn´t think wizards were freaks anymore.

"**as it was possible to be. The Dursleys shuddered to think about what the neighbors would think if the Potters arrived in the street. The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son too, but they had never seen him. This boy was another good reason to keep the Potters away; they didn´t want Dudley mixing with a child like that."**

Dudley frowned.

"Why?" asked he.

His parents stared at him.

"Dudley, what exactly do you mean?" asked Vernon.

"Why didn´t you want me to meet Harry?"

Vernon didn´t believe his ears.

"Dudley! I thought you knew that. It´s obvious. He´s a freak and what if he would have affected you? What if you would have started having weird ideas and stuff? Do you think me and your mother could live with that?"

"So if I didn´t exist, would you have been nice to Harry?" Dudley asked.

"Of course not! He´s a freak! You are not _supposed_ to be nice to freaks! Dudley, you _know _this, what has gotten in to you?"

Dudley exploded.

"SHUT IT, DAD, SHUT IT! HARRY IS _NOT _A FREAK! I HAVE TAKLED TO DEGALUS AND GUESS WHAT HE TOLD ME? HE TOLD ME THAT HARRY POTTER SAVED THE WORLD! TWICE! AND HE SAVED MY SOUL AND GAVE US PROTCTION SO THAT WE COULD HAVE A CHANCE TO SURVIVE THE WAR WHILE HE PROBEBLY WOULD BE OUT, RISKING HIS LIFE!" He took deep breaths. Suddenly he got a sad look on his face.

"I heard what they said on the radio once. They have a safe channel for everyone on bright side. First the speakers were just funny, but in the end, they listed all the names of the once who had died recently. It was so _many._ And ordinary people like us too, it could be whole families. It was terrible." His started to tear up, but he didn´t care. He had to say this.

His parents just stared at him in complete shock.

"And then I-I realized something. It could be Harry. Harry had sent us away because he was in more danger than anyone else. The main target of the bad guys. And according to Degalus, Harry had gone away on some incredibly dangerous mission to stop the war alone with two of his friends and no one had seen them since they left. What if he´d died? We treated him horribly, and then he gave us protection, even though we didn´t deserve it. Not after how we treated him for sixteen years." Tears started to fall, and Petunia, not being able to watch her son cry no matter what; decided that reading on would be the best way to make her Ikle Diddykins stop crying and picked up the book that had fallen down on the floor and riffled (**A/N Is it called riffled? I hope you get what I mean anyway.)** to the right page.

"**When Mr. and Mrs. Dursley woke up on the dull, grey Tuesday our story starts, there was nothing but the cloudy sky outside to suggest that something strange and mysterious thing would soon be happening all over the country.**

Dudley stopped crying, and Petunia felt a bit proud of herself.

**Mr. Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work and Mrs. Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair. None of them noticed an owl fluttering past the window.**

**At half passed eight, Mr. Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs. Dursley on the cheek and tried to kiss Dudley goodbye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing cereal at the walls.**

"**Little tyke," chortled Mr. Dursley as he left the house. He got into his car and backed out of number four´s drive. It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar – a cat reading a map. **

"Wait, that can´t be right. Read that sentence again." ordered Dudley.

Petunia read the sentence again.

"Strange. Dad, did-" Dudley stopped when he saw that his dad was still staring at him in shock. Feeling uncomfortable, he waved to his mom to continue.

"**For a second, Mr. Dursley didn´t realize what he had seen – then he jerked his head around again to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there was no map in sight. What could he had been thinking of? It must have been the trick of light. Mr. Dursley blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back. As Mr. Dursley drove aroud the corner and up the road he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign that said Privet Drive – no, looking at the sign; cats couldn´t read maps or signs."**

Vernon was finally getting out of his shock and started to listen to the story again, even though he threw his son odd glances every twenty seconds.

"**Mr. Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. As he drove towards town, he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day.**

**But on the edge of the town, drills was driven out of his mind by something else. As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn´t help noticing that there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people about. People in cloaks.**

"_Wizards." _Thought Petunia.

**Mr. Dursley couldn´t bear people who dressed in funny clothes – the get-ups you saw one young people!" **

"I agree completely there, Vernon!" said Petunia, interrupting herself, and shuddered.

"**He supposed it was some stupid new fashion. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdoes standing quite close by. They were whispering excitedly together. Mr. Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them weren´t young at all; why, that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald green cloak! The nerve of him! But then it stuck Mr. Dursley that this was probably some silly stunt – these people was obviously collecting for something… yes, that would be it. **

"Nope" told Dudley book-Vernon.

"**The traffic moved on, and a few minutes later, Mr. Dursley arrived in the Grunnings car park, his mind back on drills. **

**Mr. Dursley always sat with his back to the window in his office on the ninth floor. If he hadn´t, he might have found it harder to concentrate on drills that morning. He didn´t see the owls swooping down in broad daylight, though the people down on the street did; they pointed and gazed open-mouthed as owl after owl sped overhead. Most of them had never seen an owl even at night time. Mr. Dursley however, had a perfectly normal owl-free morning. He yelled at five different people. He made several important telephone calls and shouted a bit more. **

Dudley threw his dad a glance.

"Why did you yell at people so much?"

"They were lazy." stated Vernon like it was the most obvious thing in the world – except that wizards were freak, then.

"**He was in a very good mood until lunch-time, when he thought he´d stretch his legs and walked across the road to buy himself a bun from the baker´s opposite. He´d forgotten all about people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker´s. He eyed them angrily as he passed them. He didn´t know why, but they made him uneasy. This lot was whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn´t see a single collecting tin. It was on his way back passed them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying.**

"**The Potters, that's right, that's what I heard –" **

"**-yes, their son, Harry-" **

**Mr. Dursley stopped dead. Fear flooded him. He looked at the whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better of it.**

**He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, snapped at his secretary not to disturb him, seized his telephone and had almost finished dialing his home number when he changed his mind. He put the receiver back down and stroked his moustache, thinking… **

**No, he was being stupid. Potter wasn´t and unusual name. **

"For _their_ lot it is" Petunia commented.

Dudley and Vernon looked questioning at her.

"How do you know that?" asked Vernon.

Petunia blushed and suddenly became very interested in the book.

"**He was sure that there were a lot of people called Potter who had a son called Harry. Come to think of it, he wasn´t even sure if his nephew was called Harry. He´d never seen the boy. It might have been Harvey. Or Harold. **

"Ugh, seriously Dad, was that the best names on H you could think of? They're horrible!"

"**There was no point in worrying Mrs. Dursley; she always got so upset at any mention of her sister. He didn´t blame her – if he had a sister like that… but all the same, those people in cloaks… **

"_He should have told me,"_ thought Petunia

**He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon, and when he left the building at five o´clock, he was still so worried that he walked straight into someone at the door. **

Vernon flinched. He had forgotten about that.

"**Sorry," he grunted as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell. **

**It was a few seconds before Mr. Dursley realized that the man had a violet cloak. He didn´t seem upset at all at being almost knocked to the ground. On the contrary, his face split into a wide smile and he said in a squeaky voice that made passers stare:**

"**Don´t be sorry my dear sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last! Even Muggles like yourself should be celebrating this happy, happy day!" **

"You-Know-Who? What`s that for some kind of name?" snorted Vernon.

"I think that´s Moldyhearts code name, or something." Said Dudley.

Suddenly, Petunias eyes widened 

" Have you thought of something? If You-Know-Who is Moldyheart, and he killed Lily right before he… disappeared, this would mean that this day in the book is the day after she died and the night that´s coming is the night when Harry is going to be left on our doorstep!"

There was a shocked silence.

"Well," said Vernon at last "if we read on we can see if it´s true. Will you continue, Petunia?"

"**And the old man hugged Mr. Dursley around the middle and walked off." **

Vernon gagged.

"**Mr. Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete stranger. He also thought he had been called a Muggle, whatever that was. He was rattled. He hurried to his car and set off home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he didn´t approve of imagination.**

**As he pulled into the driveway at number four, the first thing he saw – and it didn't improve his mood – was the tabby cat he´d spotted in the morning. It was now sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had the same markings around the eyes. **

"**Shoo!" said Mr. Dursley loudly. **

**The cat didn´t move. It just gave him a stern look. **

"Why do I get a feeling that that cat wasn´t really a cat?" groaned Vernon

**Was this normal cat behavior, Mr. Dursley wondered? Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined to not say anything to his wife.**

"_He should have told me"_ thought Petunia again.

**Mrs. Dursley had had a nice, normal day. She told him over the dinner all about Mrs. Next Door´s problems with her daughter and how Dudley had learnt a new word (shan´t). **

Dudley raised an eyebrow.

"Honestly mum, your ´normal day´ sounds just _boring_." He told her.

Petunia blushed.

"**Mr. Dursley tried to act normally. When Dudley had been put to bed, he went into the living-room in time to catch the last report on evening news:**

"**And finally, bird-watchers everywhere have reported that the nation´s owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been hundreds of sighting of these birds flying in every direction since sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls suddenly have changed their pattern." The news reader allowed himself a grin.**

"**Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers tonight, Jim?" **

"**Well, Ted" said the weatherman. "I don´t know about that, but it´s not only the owls that have been acting oddly lately. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesterday they´ve had downpour of shooting stars! Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire Night early" **

"I´d rather say it has something to do with _their_ lot." Vernon told the book.

"Dad, are you feeling alright? You are talking to a_ book_…" Dudley joked. This attempt to humor was _not_ appreciated by someone who glared at his son.

"**-it´s not until next week, folks! But I can promise a wet night tonight." **

**A/N: I´m skipping to the part where Dumbledore arrives, or I´ll be done with this at Christmas! I hope that´s OK with everyone. A/N **

**A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, he appeared so suddenly and silently that you´d have thought he´d popped out of the ground. **

**The cat's tail twitched and it´s eyes narrowed. **

**Nothing like this man had been seen in Privet Drive before. He was tall, thin and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which both were long enough to tuck into his belt. **

"That sounds like the man who to our house two years ago, Dumbledumb or something!" Dudley exclaimed.

"Yes, you're right sweetie, it does. I think his name was Dumbledore, though, I-er overheard Lily and one of her friends once when I was little."

"**He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak which swept the ground and high-heeled, buckled boots. His eyes were light, bright and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice. This man's name was Albus Dumbledore." **

"Albus. So that´s the old fools first name. What kind of name is that?" muttered Vernon.

"**Albus Dumbledore didn´t seem to realize that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome. He was busy in rummaging in his cloak, looking for something. But he did seem to realize that he was being watched, because he looked up suddenly at the cat, which were still staring at him from the other side of the street. For some reason the sight of cat seemed to amuse him. He chuckled and muttered "I should have known." **

"What should he had known?" asked Dudley bewildered.

"I don´t know Diddykins, I guess we´ll find that out later."

"**He found what he was looking for inside his pocket. It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter. He flicked it opened, held it up in the air and clicked it. The nearest street lamp went out with a little pop." **

"HE DID THE M-WORD ON OUR STREET! THE FREAK DID IT! NOW HE IS PRBOBELY GOING TO PLOT TO TAKE OVER THE HOUSE!" Vernon yelled.

"Eh, Dad, you do know this has already happened, don´t you?" Asked Dudley while trying to decide whether he should laugh or glare at his dad.

"Oh. Yes, of course I know." Said Vernon, but he didn´t meet Dudley´s eyes..

"**He clicked it again – the next lamp flickered into darkness. Twelve times he clicked the Put-Outer, – "**

"The what?" exclaimed Vernon, still in his the-freak-and-magic mode.

Petunia ignored him.

"**- until the only light on the whole street were two pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of the cat, watching him. If anyone would look out of their window now, even beady-eyed Mrs. Dursley, they wouldn´t be able to see anything that was happening down on the pavement. Dumbledore slipped the Put-Outer back into his cloak and set off down the street towards number four, where he sat down on the wall next to the cat. He didn´t look at it, but after a moment he spoke to it. **

"**Fancy seeing you here, professor McGonagall." **

"The cats name is Professor McGonagall?"

"It seems like it, Dud."

"**He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead he was smiling at a rather server-looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the same shape as the marking had been around the cat's eyes. **

"THE CAT WAS ONE OF THE FREAKS!" both Vernon and Petunia shouted.

Dudley glared his parents.

"I think it´s cool to be able to transform into an animal." He said, still glaring.

Vernon´s face changed into its famous purple color. Petunia looked like she would faint. Dudley, who was still glaring, motioned for his mum to read.

"**She, too, was wearing a cloak, an emerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked ruffled. **

"**How did you know it was me?"** **she asked. **

"**My dear Professor, I have never seen a cat sit so stiffly." **

"_Busted"_ thought Dudley.

"**You´d be stiff too if you´d been sitting on a wall brick all day." **

"All day?" asked Dudley incredulously.

Petunia gasped horrified.

"**All day?" **

"NOOOOOOOOOO!" Vernon suddenly got up, threw himself over to Dudley and started to shake him.

"DUDLEY! THE FREAKS MUST HAVE PUT SOME S-S-SPELL ON YOU! I KNOW YOU ARE IN THERE SOMEWHERE, LISTEN, YOU GOTTA FIGHT BACK! FIGHT DUDLEY, FIGHT!"

"DAD! DAD! STOP SHAKE ME, I´M ALRIGHT! STOP!" Dudley shouted, while trying to break free. Finally, he decided that a right uppercut would do it. It hit Vernon in the stomach.

"Ouch."

Vernon let go of Dudley, clutching his stomach and took a few step back.

Breathing heavily, Dudley looked at his mom, who was white as milk for some reason, and decided that perhaps it was time to eat.

"I´m hungry. Can we eat now?"

Petunia glanced at the clock, it was nearly four o´clock, it was an acceptable dinner time.

"Ok, Dudders. What do you want?."

Dudley thought for a second.

"Chicken pie."

**/AN/ I am DONE! This chapter took like FOREVER to write! With this AN it´s 15 A4s! I stopped it here because I figured if I wrote the whole chapter nobody would actually read all of it. And thank you very, very much for your reviews and everything, all of you! **

**Here are just some quick notes or something to some reviewers:**

**To Writer0906 and Battleofthegood: I understand how you're thinking, it would be awkward and everything but I kinda feel like letting Harry return. **

**To Prongs…And Padfoot Too: That´s what I myself have been thinking. But maybe not after the first three chapters, I was thinking a bit father in the book. I´m not telling you more! **

**To LilAI260: well, it´s a good idea. But actually, I want to reprint everything of the book. Even if it will take MUCH longer time to finish the story. I know, I know, I'm weird. **

**There is surely something I have forgotten to mention, but I really need to sleep right now, I have school tomorrow. **

**And if anyone wonder why it´s such a gap between the lines this is the answer: I have no idea! If anyone knows why it is like this, please let me know.**

**Rebellwolf **


	3. Chapter 1 part 2

Chapter 2: The Boy Who Lived Part Two

**Disclaimer: I don´t own Harry Potter. All rights goes to J.K Rowling.**

After dinner – for once a quite event – the three Dursleys went back to the sofa and the chairs. Dudley picked up the book and riffled to the right page.

"I can finish the chapter; it was I who started it anyway. Right, here we go."

**"All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a**

**dozen feasts and parties on my way here." **

"_What were they celebrating"_ thought Dudley.

**"Oh yes, everyone's celebrating, all right," she said impatiently.**

**"You'd think they'd be a bit more careful, but no - even the Muggles **

**have noticed something's going on. It was on their news" head back at the Dursleys' dark living-room window.**

**"I heard it. Flocks of owls... shooting stars... Well, they're not completely stupid. They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent – I´ll bet that was Dedalus Diggle." **

"That old codger that clung over us? No wonder he made everything tap-dance at Christmas." Vernon exclaimed

Dudley glared.

"Dedalus was a nice guy, even if he had some little weird ideas sometimes." He defended.

"**He never made much sense." **

Vernon paled, horrified that he actually had agreed with a _freak._

**"You can't blame them," said Dumbledore gently. "We've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years." **

"That can´t be fun" muttered Dudley.

**"I know that," said Professor McGonagall irritably. "But that's no**

**reason to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on**

**the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes,**

**swapping rumors." **

"Okay, what´s a Muggle for some kind of name? It sounds like smugglers."

"It´s means us normal." Replyed Petunia without thinking.

Vernon shot her a questioning glance. _How does she know that? _

"**She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping**

**he was going to tell her something, but he didn't, so she went on. **

**"A fine thing it would be if, on the very day You-Know-Who seems to have**

**disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all. I suppose he** **really has gone,** **Dumbledore?"**

**"It certainly seems so," **

"But wasn´t he the guy we fled from? How can he die and come back?" Asked a very confused Dudley.

"I don´t know Dudders, perhaps he didn´t really die."

"Ha! Of course he didn´t really die! Ugh. The freaks can´t even make sure he really was dead before starting to celabrite!"

Someone earned a glare.

**" said Dumbledore. "We have much to be thankful**

**for. Would you care for a lemon drop?" **

**"A what?"**

"How can they not have lemon drops? They´re great!" (Dudley)

**"A lemon drop. They're a kind of Muggle sweet I'm rather fond of"**

**"No, thank you," said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she didn't**

**think this was the moment for lemon drops. "As I say, even if**

**You-Know-Who has gone -"**

"Why does everyone call him you-know-who? No one can be so scary you can´t call him by name! What chickens the freaks are!" exclaimed Vernon.

Petunia nodded, even though she knew better than both her husband and son that that man had done terrible things, she still thought it was stupid to not call Moldyheart by name; it was like not calling Hitler or some other evil guy by name!

Dudley tried to not to laugh, it was going to be fun to see his parents reaction to the next _few sentences.. _

**"My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him**

**by his name? All this 'You- Know-Who' nonsense - for eleven years I**

**have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name:**

**Voldemort." **

Vernon and Petunia paled with each word and their faces only became more and more horrified. Had they actually _agreed_ with one of _them_!?

Dudley couldn´t help himself, he laughed.

**Professor McGonagall flinched, but Dumbledore, who was**

**unsticking two lemon drops, seemed not to notice. **

**"It all gets so confusing if we keep saying 'You-Know-Who.' I have never seen any reason**

**to be frightened of saying Voldemort's name."**

**"I know you haven 't, said Professor McGonagall, sounding half**

**exasperated, half admiring. **

**"But you're different. Everyone knows you're the only one You-Know- oh, all right, Voldemort, was frightened of." **

If it wouldn´t be for that Vernon still were in some kind of shock, he would have made a comment here, probably something about chickens and freaks.

**"You flatter me," said Dumbledore calmly. "Voldemort had powers I will**

**never have."**

**"Only because you're too - well - noble to use them."**

**"It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey**

**told me she liked my new earmuffs." **

Dudley, like the teenager he was, thought this was a little too much information about this Dumbledore and women.

"**Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore and said,**

**"The owls are nothing next to the rumors that are flying around. You know what**

**everyone's saying? About why he's disappeared? About what finally**

**stopped him?"**

**It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was most**

**anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been waiting on a cold, hard**

**wall all day, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed**

**Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now. It was plain that**

**whatever "everyone" was saying, she was not going to believe it until **

**Dumbledore told her it was true. Dumbledore, however, was choosing**

**another lemon drop and did not answer.**

**"What they're saying," she pressed on, "is that last night Voldemort**

**turned up in Godric's Hollow. He went to find the Potters. The rumor is**

**that Lily and James Potter are - are - that they're - dead. " **

Petunia looked down, remembering her last word to her sister and regretting them. She had never really hated her sister, just been jealous.

Dudley felt bad, bad for his Aunt and Uncle, but most bad for Harry, who never gotten to know his parents, like he had gotten to know his.

**Dumbledore bowed his head. Professor McGonagall gasped.**

**"Lily and James... I can't believe it... I didn't want to believe it... Oh, Albus..."**

**Dumbledore reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "I know... I**

**know..." he said heavily.**

**Professor McGonagall's voice trembled as she went on. "That's not all.**

**They're saying he tried to kill the Potter's son, Harry. But - he**

**couldn't. He couldn't kill that little boy. No one knows why, or how,**

**but they're saying that when he couldn't kill Harry Potter, Voldemort's**

**power somehow broke - and that's why he's gone." **

There was a shocked silence. The whole Dursley family stared at the book in Dudley´s hands like if it was from outer space.

"How did he do that?" asked-whispered Vernon, who for once didn´t bother to badmouth his nephew.

Dudley and Petunia just shook their heads.

**Dumbledore nodded glumly.**

**"It's - it's true?" faltered Professor McGonagall. "After all he's**

**done... all the people he's killed... he couldn't kill a little boy?**

**It's just astounding... of all the things to stop him... but how in the**

**name of heaven did Harry survive?"**

**"We can only guess," said Dumbledore. "We may never know."**

**Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her**

**eyes beneath her spectacles. Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took a**

**golden watch from his pocket and examined it. It was a very old watch. **

**It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little planets were moving**

**around the edge. It must have made sense to Dumbledore, though, because**

**he put it back in his pocket and said, "Hagrid's late. I suppose it was**

**he who told you I'd be here, by the way?"**

**"Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "And I don't suppose you're going to**

**tell me why you're here, of all places?"**

**"I've come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle. They're the only family**

**he has left now." **

Dudley frowned. He could hardly say they had treated him better than a slave, let alone a family member.

"We´re the only family he has left? Didn´t he had a godfather? What happened to him? Oh, wait, he was a murderer…"

**"You don't mean - you can't mean the people who live here?" cried** **Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number four.**

**"Dumbledore - you can't. I've been watching them all day. You couldn't**

**find two people who are less like us." **

Vernon looked proud

**And they've got this son - I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, **

**screaming for sweets. Harry Potter come and live here!"**

**"It's the best place for him," said Dumbledore firmly. "His aunt and**

**uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he's older. I've**

**written them a letter." **

"That letter didn´t help so much to explain anything." Mumbled Petunia.

**"A letter?" repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on**

**the wall. "Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a**

**letter? These people will never understand him! He'll be famous - a**

**legend - I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter day**

**in the future - there will be books written about Harry - every child**

**in our world will know his name!" **

"Harry Potter day? A legend? Is he rich?" Vernon asked with a glint in his eyes that said:

_If he is I am going to find a way to get all of his money. _

Dudley sent his father a death glare. _How could he just think about money? _

**"Exactly," said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his**

**half-moon glasses. "It would be enough to turn any boy's head. Famous**

**before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won't even remember! **

**Can't you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away**

**from all that until he's ready to take it?"**

**Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, swallowed, and**

**then said, **

**"Yes - yes, you're right, of course. But how is the boy getting here, Dumbledore?" She eyed his cloak suddenly as though she thought he might be hiding Harry underneath it.**

**"Hagrid's bringing him." **

"Hagrid? Who is Hagrid? Asked Dudley confused.

His parents looked just as confused, they had all forgotten that it was him who gave their Ickle Diddykins a pig tail all those years ago.

**"You think it - wise - to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?" **

_Why wouldn´t it be wise? _Wondered Dudley. 

"**I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore.**

**"I'm not saying his heart isn't in the right place," said Professor**

**McGonagall grudgingly, "but you can't pretend he's not careless. He does**

**tend to - what was that?"**

**A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them. It grew**

**steadily louder as they looked up and down the street for some sign of a**

**headlight; it swelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky - and**

**a huge motorcycle fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of**

**them. **

"A flying motorcycle? Cool!" exclaimed Dudley, interrupting himself right in the sentence.

His parents shoot him worried glances

**If the motorcycle was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride**

**it. He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times**

**as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so wild - long**

**tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands**

**the size of trash can lids, and his feet in their leather boots were**

**like baby dolphins. **

Three pair of eyes suddenly widened in realization.

"He´s the man/freak who gave me/Dudders/Diddy a pig tail!" they all exclaimed.

**In his vast, muscular arms he was holding a bundle**

**of blankets.**

**"Hagrid," said Dumbledore, sounding relieved. "At last. And where did**

**you get that motorcycle?"**

**"Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sir," said the giant, climbing**

**carefully off the motorcycle as he spoke. **

**"Young Sirius Black**

"Wasn´t he a murderer?" asked Dudley.

"Yes indeed he was, the freak who killed some people and left us with that _boy_!" Vernon snarled.

**lent it to me. I've got him, sir."**

**"No problems, were there?"**

**"No, sir - house was almost destroyed, but I got him out all right**

**before the Muggles started swarmin' around. He fell asleep as we was**

**flyin' over Bristol."**

**Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall bent forward over the bundle of**

**blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby boy, fast asleep. Under a**

**tuft of jet-black hair over his forehead they could see a curiously**

**shaped cut, like a bolt of lightning.**

**"Is that where -?" whispered Professor McGonagall.**

**"Yes," said Dumbledore. "He'll have that scar forever." **

"_So that´s how he got that scar"._ Thought Dudley.

**"Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore?"**

**"Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars can come in handy. I have one myself**

**above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground.**

**Well - give him here, Hagrid - we'd better get this over with."**

**Dumbledore took Harry in his arms and turned toward the Dursleys' house.**

**"Could I - could I say good-bye to him, sir?" asked Hagrid. He bent his**

**great, shaggy head over Harry and gave him what must have been a very**

**scratchy, whiskery kiss.**

"EWWWWWW" squealed Petunia.

**Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a**

**wounded dog.**

Vernon muttered something that sounded like ether "weak" and "freak". It was probably both.

**"Shhh!" hissed Professor McGonagall, "you'll wake the Muggles!"**

**"S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large, spotted handkerchief and**

**burying his face in it. "But I c-c-can't stand it - Lily an' James dead**

**- an' poor little Harry off ter live with Muggles -" **

**"Yes, yes, it's all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or**

**we'll be found," Professor McGonagall whispered, patting Hagrid gingerly**

**on the arm as Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to**

**the front door. He laid Harry gently on the doorstep, took a letter out**

**of his cloak, tucked it inside Harry's blankets, and then came back to**

**the other two. For a full minute the three of them stood and looked at**

**the little bundle; Hagrid's shoulders shook, Professor McGonagall**

**blinked furiously, and the twinkling light that usually shone from**

**Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out.**

**"Well," said Dumbledore finally, "that's that. We've no business staying**

**here. We may as well go and join the celebrations."**

**"Yeah," said Hagrid in a very muffled voice, "I'll be takin' Sirius his**

**bike back.**

"He´s giving it back? I would have kept it!"

Petunia and Vernon got even more worrid – what if their son would try to get a flying motor cycle – or worse - become _friends_ with the freaks!

**G'night, Professor McGonagall - Professor Dumbledore, sir."**

**Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself**

**onto the motorcycle and kicked the engine into life; with a roar it rose**

**into the air and off into the night.**

Dudley had a dreamy look on his face.

**"I shall see you soon, I expect, Professor McGonagall," said Dumbledore,**

**nodding to her. Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply.**

**Dumbledore turned and walked back down the street. On the corner he**

**stopped and took out the silver Put-Outer. He clicked it once, and**

**twelve balls of light sped back to their street lamps**

_Cool, but not as cool as the flying motorcycle,_ thought Dudley. 

**so that Privet Drive glowed suddenly orange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking**

**around the corner at the other end of the street. He could just see the**

**bundle of blankets on the step of number four.**

**"Good luck, Harry," he murmured. He turned on his heel and with a swish**

**of his cloak, he was gone.**

**A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and**

**tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect**

**astonishing things to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his**

**blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside**

**him and he slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was**

**famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs.**

**Dursley's scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk**

**bottles,**

"That was the biggest surprise of my life" stated Petunia remembering that.. different morning

**nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin **

**Dudley... **

The older Dudley flinched, and suddenly realized he would hear about himself in a point of view that would be completely honest and true and now he would really know what other people thought of him. O-oh…

**He couldn't know that at this very**

**moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up**

**their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter - the boy**

**who lived!" **

"And that´s the end of the chapter. Dad, you haven´t read, it´s your turn." Dudley said and handed the book to his dad.

Vernon grunted and took the book unwillingly.

"Alright. **Chapter 2: The Vanishing Glass**"

**A/N: so what do you think? I re-update this chapter because I forgot to write this AN.**

**I´m thinking about perhaps add someone, not Harry, but maybe someone from the Weasly´s or Hagrid or someone. Just tell me! **


	4. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don´t own Harry Potter. All rights goes to J. . **

"**Chapter 2: the Vanishing glass" **

Dudley suddenly remembered a certain scary experience at zoo seven years ago.

"**Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find**

**their nephew on the front step, but Privet Drive had hardly changed at**

**all. The sun rose on the same tidy front gardens**

Petunia looked proud.

**and lit up the brass number four on the Dursleys' front door; it crept into their living**

**room, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night when**

**Mr. Dursley had seen that fateful news report about the owls. Only the**

**photographs on the mantelpiece really showed how much time had passed. **

_It´s still that way,_ thought Dudley._ How _boring _we must seem._

**Ten years ago, there had been lots of pictures of what looked like a**

**large pink beach ball wearing different-colored bonnets - but Dudley**

**Dursley was no longer a baby, and now the photographs showed a large**

**blond boy riding his first bicycle, on a carousel at the fair, playing a**

**computer game with his father, being hugged and kissed by his mother.**

**The room held no sign at all that another boy lived in the house, too.**

**Yet Harry Potter was still there, asleep at the moment, but not for**

**long. His Aunt Petunia was awake and it was her shrill voice that made**

**the first noise of the day.**

**"Up! Get up! Now!"**

"Mom! Did you really had to woke him up like that? It was rude."

Taken aback by her son´s scold, Petunia didn´t answer.

**Harry woke with a start. His aunt rapped on the door again.**

**"Up!" she screeched. Harry heard her walking toward the kitchen and then**

**the sound of the frying pan being put on the stove. He rolled onto his**

**back and tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a**

**good one. There had been a flying motorcycle in it.**

Dudley sighed longing, what would he not give to have a flying motorcycle?

Vernon snorted.

_Of course would a freak think such an abnormal dream was a good dream. _

**He had a funny feeling he'd had the same dream before.**

**His aunt was back outside the door.**

**"Are you up yet?" she demanded.**

**"Nearly," said Harry.**

**"Well, get a move on, I want you to look after the bacon. And don't you**

**dare let it burn, I want everything perfect on Duddy's birthday."**

´Duddy´ groaned; his suspicions about the chapter title were right then.

**Harry groaned.**

**"What did you say?" his aunt snapped through the door. **

"He didn´t say anything, mom."

**"Nothing, nothing..."**

**Dudley's birthday - how could he have forgotten? Harry got slowly out**

**of bed and started looking for socks. He found a pair under his bed and,**

**after pulling a spider off one of them,**

Petunia looked slightly green, she really _hated_ spiders.

**put them on. Harry was used to**

**spiders, because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them, and**

**that was where he slept. **

_Perhaps I should have cleaned the cupboard more often. Not even freaks should have to live _

_with spiders. _

**When he was dressed he went down the hall into the kitchen. The table**

**was almost hidden beneath all Dudley's birthday presents. It looked as**

**though Dudley had gotten the new computer he wanted, not to mention the**

**second television and the racing bike. Exactly why Dudley wanted a**

**racing bike was a mystery to Harry, as Dudley was very fat and hated**

**exercise - unless of course it involved punching somebody.**

Dudley hung his head in shame, remembering who he had punched most.

**Dudley's favorite punching bag was Harry, but he couldn't often catch him. Harry**

**didn't look it, but he was very fast. **

"Hell yeah he was! He was like a little gazelle! You should have seen him!" Dudley´s voice were full of admiration.

Vernon and Petunia shared a glance and nodded in a silence agreement. After these books were over, they would take Dudley to a psychologist.

**Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, but Harry**

**had always been small and skinny for his age. He looked even smaller and**

**skinnier than he really was because all he had to wear were old clothes**

**of Dudley's, and Dudley was about four times bigger than he was. Harry**

**had a thin face, knobbly knees, black hair, and bright green eyes.**

"Yup, that´s Harry all right" grinned Dudley. 

**He wore round glasses held together with a lot of Scotch tape because of**

**all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose. The only thing Harry**

**liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead that**

**was shaped like a bolt of lightning.**

"How could he like that scar! It makes me ill just thinking about it!" shrieked Petunia.

"I completely agree! It´s a horrid, awful, abnormal, freakish mark – how can it be famous for something good? Why did we took him again?" Vernon boomed.

"Just read on, dad."

**He had had it as long as he could remember, and the first question he could ever remember asking his Aunt Petunia was how he had gotten it.**

**"In the car crash when your parents died,"**

"Why did you tell him it was car crash? He deserved to know the truth!"

Vernon laughed, sure that his son was only joking – it was obvious!

But then he saw his son´s confused and stopped laugh.

"Dudley, why do you even ask? You know that if we had told the boy how his parents had really died, we could just as well had told him he was a w-word and then he would do even more m-word things. What would the neighbors and the people at work and everyone else think? We would be socially evicted!" he cried.

Dudley sighed, how could his parents be so.. _shallow?_

**she had said. "And don't ask questions."**

**Don't ask questions - that was the first rule for a quiet life with the**

**Dursleys.**

**Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon.**

**"Comb your hair!" he barked, by way of a morning greeting.**

**About once a week, Uncle Vernon looked over the top of his newspaper and**

**shouted that Harry needed a haircut. Harry must have had more haircuts**

**than the rest of the boys in his class put**

**together, but it made no difference, his hair simply grew that way -**

**all over the place." **

"Don´t I know everything about that" muttered Petunia, thinking of all the times she had tried to comb, clip or even just try to make Harrys hair to be a little more straight – without any success.

**Harry was frying eggs by the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen with his**

**mother. Dudley looked a lot like Uncle Vernon. He had a large pink face,**

**not much neck, small, watery blue eyes, and thick blond hair that lay**

**smoothly on his thick, fat head.**

"What an insult! My Diddy have an angels face, wonderful eyes and is defiantly _not fat_!" shouted Petunia.

_Well I´m not that fat anymore, _thought Dudley.

**looked like a baby angel - Harry often said that Dudley looked like a**

**pig in a wig.**

Dudley tried hard very hard not to laugh – he had an mental image of a real pig in a wig.

**Harry put the plates of egg and bacon on the table, which was difficult**

**as there wasn't much room. Dudley, meanwhile, was counting his presents.**

**His face fell.**

**"Thirty-six," he said, looking up at his mother and father. "That's two**

**less than last year."**

_Gee, were I really that greedy? I already sound like a horrible person, and this is only the beginning! _

**"Darling, you haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see, it's here**

**under this big one from Mommy and Daddy."**

**"All right, thirty-seven then," said Dudley, going red in the face.**

**Harry, who could see a huge Dudley tantrum coming on, began wolfing down**

**his bacon as fast as possible in case Dudley turned the table over.**

**Aunt Petunia obviously scented danger, too, because she said quickly,**

**"And we'll buy you another two presents while we're out today. How's**

**that, popkin? Two more presents. Is that all right''**

**Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work. Finally he said**

**slowly, "So I'll have thirty ... thirty..."**

_Couldn´t I even count? How could I pass first grade?_

**"Thirty-nine, sweetums," said Aunt Petunia.**

**"Oh." Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel. "All right then."**

**Uncle Vernon chuckled. "Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like**

**his father. 'Atta boy, Dudley!" He ruffled Dudley's hair.**

**At that moment the telephone rang and Aunt Petunia went to answer it**

**while Harry and Uncle Vernon watched Dudley unwrap the racing bike, a**

**video camera, a remote control airplane, sixteen new computer games, and**

**a VCR. He was ripping the paper off a gold wristwatch when Aunt Petunia**

**came back from the telephone looking both angry and worried.**

**"Bad news, Vernon," she said. "Mrs. Figg's broken her leg. She can't**

**take him." She jerked her head in Harry's direction.**

**Dudley's mouth fell open in horror, but Harry's heart gave a leap. Every**

**year on Dudley's birthday, his parents took him and a friend out for the**

**day, to adventure parks, hamburger restaurants, or the movies. Every**

**year, Harry was left behind with Mrs. Figg, a mad old lady who lived two**

**streets away. Harry hated it there. The whole house smelled of cabbage**

**and Mrs. Figg made him look at photographs of all the cats she'd ever**

**owned." **

"He had to look at all these cats? How did he survive? Mrs. Figg had like a hundred cats!" said Dudley with a horrified look on his face.

**"Now what?" said Aunt Petunia, looking furiously at Harry as though he'd**

**planned this. Harry knew he ought to feel sorry that Mrs. Figg had**

**broken her leg, but it wasn't easy when he reminded himself it would be**

**a whole year before he had to look at Tibbles, Snowy, Mr. Paws, and**

**Tufty again." **

"Doesn't that boy even have an ounce of manners? Poor old Mrs. Figgs." shied Petunia, even though she herself didn´t really care about Mrs. Figg when it actually had happen.

**"We could phone Marge," Uncle Vernon suggested.**

**"Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates the boy."**

**The Dursleys often spoke about Harry like this, as though he wasn't**

**there - or rather, as though he was something very nasty that couldn't**

**understand them, like a slug." **

"That´s right."

**"On vacation in Majorca," snapped Aunt Petunia.**

**"You could just leave me here," Harry put in hopefully (he'd be able to**

**watch what he wanted on television for a change and maybe even have a go**

**on Dudley's computer)."**

"What the-! That little-! He abuses our hospitality and go behind our backs to watch TV when he should be doing chores! Oh, just wait until I get my hands on him, I´m gonna-"

"Dad!" Dudley snapped. "That was long time ago. He´s grown up now. Just let it go and read."

"**Aunt Petunia looked as though she'd just swallowed a lemon.**

**"And come back and find the house in ruins?" she snarled.**

**"I won't blow up the house," said Harry, but they weren't listening.**

**"I suppose we could take him to the zoo," said Aunt Petunia slowly, "...**

**and leave him in the car..."**

**"That car's new, he's not sitting in it alone..."**

"Seriously dad, what could have happened?"

Vernon muttered something that sounded like "boy" " blown up" and "car".

"**Dudley began to cry loudly. In fact, he wasn't really crying - it had**

**been years since he'd really cried - but he knew that if he screwed up**

**his face and wailed, his mother would give him anything he wanted."**

"What a lie! My little popkin would never do something like!"

´Popkin´ cringed.

**"Dinky Duddydums, don't cry, Mummy won't let him spoil your special**

**day!" she cried, flinging her arms around him.**

**"I... don't... want... him... t-t-to come!" Dudley yelled between huge,**

**pretend sobs. "He always sp- spoils everything!" He shot Harry a nasty**

**grin through the gap in his mother's arms." **

Petunia looked Dudley, starting to wonder if he really did pretend to cry when he where younger.

"Dudley? Did you really pretend you were crying?"

The named person nodded and cringed even more when he saw his mother´s disappointed face.

"Sorry, mom."

**Just then, the doorbell rang - "Oh, good Lord, they're here!" said Aunt**

**Petunia frantically - and a moment later, Dudley's best friend, Piers**

**Polkiss, walked in with his mother. Piers was a scrawny boy with a face**

**like a rat. He was usually the one who held people's arms behind their**

**backs while Dudley hit them."**

"That´s not true! He would never do that, wouldn´t you, Dudley?"

Dudley was suddenly very interested in his feet.

"**Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once.**

**Half an hour later, Harry, who couldn't believe his luck, was sitting in**

**the back of the Dursleys' car with Piers and Dudley, on the way to the**

**zoo for the first time in his life. His aunt and uncle hadn't been able**

**to think of anything else to do with him, but before they'd left, Uncle**

**Vernon had taken Harry aside.**

**"I'm warning you," he had said, putting his large purple face right up**

**close to Harry's, "I'm warning you now, boy - any funny business,**

**anything at all - and you'll be in that cupboard from now until**

**Christmas."**

"That was harsh, dad, that was way to harsh."

**"I'm not going to do anything," said Harry, "honestly.."**

**But Uncle Vernon didn't believe him. No one ever did.**

**The problem was, strange things often happened around Harry and it was**

**just no good telling the Dursleys he didn't make them happen." **

**Once, Aunt Petunia, tired of Harry coming back from the barbers looking**

**as though he hadn't been at all, had taken a pair of kitchen scissors**

**and cut his hair so short he was almost bald except for his bangs, which**

**she left "to hide that horrible scar."**

The whole Dursley family had a hard time trying not to smile at the memory.

**Dudley had laughed himself silly**

**at Harry, who spent a sleepless night imagining school the next day,**

**where he was already laughed at for his baggy clothes and taped glasses.**

**Next morning, however, he had gotten up to find his hair exactly as it**

**had been before Aunt Petunia had sheared it off. He had been given a week**

**in his cupboard for this, even though he had tried to explain that he**

**couldn't explain how it had grown back so quickly."**

**Another time, Aunt Petunia had been trying to force him into a revolting**

**old sweater of Dudley's (brown with orange puff balls) - The harder she**

**tried to pull it over his head, the smaller it seemed to become, until**

**finally it might have fitted a hand puppet, but certainly wouldn't fit**

**Harry." **

"When Harry comes back, I am going to thank him for shrinking that sweater!" cheered Dudley.

**Aunt Petunia had decided it must have shrunk in the wash and, to**

**his great relief, Harry wasn't punished.**

**On the other hand, he'd gotten into terrible trouble for being found on**

**the roof of the school kitchens."**

"That time where really weird. How did he get up there? Can wizards do teleporting?" mused Dudley.

"Almost. They can apparate, which is almost like teleporting." Answered Petunia, forgetting to pretend like she doesn

**Dudley's gang had been chasing him as**

**usual when, as much to Harry's surprise as anyone else's, there he was**

**sitting on the chimney. The Dursleys had received a very angry letter**

**from Harry's headmistress telling them Harry had been climbing school**

**buildings. But all he'd tried to do (as he shouted at Uncle Vernon**

**through the locked door of his cupboard) was jump behind the big trash**

**cans outside the kitchen doors. Harry supposed that the wind must have**

**caught him in mid- jump.**

**But today, nothing was going to go wrong.**

_Yeah sure _the Dursleys though

**It was even worth being with**

**Dudley and Piers to be spending the day somewhere that wasn't school,**

**his cupboard, or Mrs. Figg's cabbage-smelling living room.**

**While he drove, Uncle Vernon complained to Aunt Petunia. He liked to**

**complain about things: people at work, Harry, the council, Harry, the**

**bank, and Harry were just a few of his favorite subjects.**

"You really like to complain about Harry, dad."

"**This morning, it was motorcycles.**

**"... roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums," he said, as a**

**motorcycle overtook them. **

"**I had a dream about a motorcycle," said Harry, remembering suddenly. "It**

**was flying." **

"That abnormal little-! Having a dream about a flying motorcycle? ALL NORMAL MOTORCYCLES DON´T FLY!" Vernon yelled.

The sound became so high that Petunia and Dudley had to put their hands over their ears.

"DAD CALM DOWN AND READ IT WAS JUST A DREAM!"

Vernon took a deep breath and continued reading.

**Uncle Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front. He turned right**

**around in his seat and yelled at Harry, his face like a gigantic beet**

**with a mustache: "MOTORCYCLES DON'T FLY!"**

**Dudley and Piers sniggered.**

**I know they don't," said Harry. "It was only a dream."**

**But he wished he hadn't said anything. If there was one thing the**

**Dursleys hated even more than his asking questions, it was his talking**

**about anything acting in a way it shouldn't, no matter if it was in a**

**dream or even a cartoon - they seemed to think he might get dangerous**

**ideas." **

"He didn´t need ideas." Snorted Petunia.

"**It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families. The**

**Dursleys bought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice creams at the**

**entrance and then, because the smiling lady in the van had asked Harry**

**what he wanted before they could hurry him away, they bought him a cheap**

**lemon ice pop. It wasn't bad, either, Harry thought, licking it as they**

**watched a gorilla scratching its head who looked remarkably like Dudley,"**

"My little tyke don´t look like a gorilla! He´s just as handsome as me!" roared Vernon.

"_Thanks, dad. That is such a compliment. You are _so_ handsome." _Dudley thought sarcastically.

"**except that it wasn't blond.**

**Harry had the best morning he'd had in a long time. He was careful to**

**walk a little way apart from the Dursleys so that Dudley and Piers, who**

**were starting to get bored with the animals by lunchtime, wouldn't fall**

**back on their favorite hobby of hitting him."**

Dudley winched.

"**They ate in the zoo**

**restaurant, and when Dudley had a tantrum because his knickerbocker**

**glory didn't have enough ice cream on top, Uncle Vernon bought him**

**another one and Harry was allowed to finish the first.**

**Harry felt, afterward, that he should have known it was all too good to**

**last.**

_The same here, cousin, same here, _thought Dudley

**After lunch they went to the reptile house. It was cool and dark in**

**there, with lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts**

**of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and**

**stone. Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick,**

**man-crushing pythons. Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the**

**place. It could have wrapped its body twice around Uncle Vernon's car**

**and crushed it into a trash can –"**

Petunia whimpered at the thought of her Dudley being near such a large snake.

"**but at the moment it didn't look in**

**the mood. In fact, it was fast asleep.**

**Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the**

**glistening brown coils.**

**"Make it move," he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the**

**glass, but the snake didn't budge.**

**"Do it again," Dudley ordered."**

_God what I sound spoiled._ The spoiled kid thought.

"**Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly**

**with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on.**

**"This is boring," Dudley moaned. He shuffled away.**

**Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. He**

**wouldn't have been surprised if it had died of boredom itself - no**

**company except stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying**

**to disturb it all day long. It was worse than having a cupboard as a**

**bedroom, where the only visitor was Aunt Petunia hammering on the door**

**to wake you up; at least he got to visit the rest of the house.**

**The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised**

**its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry's.**

**It winked." **

"WHAT! IS HE COMMUNICATING WITH THAT GIANT SNAKE? WASN´T IT THAT ONE THAT ALMOST BIT DUDDERS HIS LEG OFF!?" roared Vernon.

"Yes indeed! And didn´t it try to strangle Piers?" said Petunia in a much lower tone, her face became red with anger, but not close to the same color her husband had. His face was somewhere between red and purple.

Dudley sighed.

"No, it didn´t. We just pretended it did so we could get whatever we wanted and get Harry into trouble."

Suddenly it was very quiet on Privet number four.

"But- but- I can´t believe it, you would never do such things, wouldn´t you, Dudley?" stammered Petunia, for once not calling her son ´Dudders´, Pomkin, Ickle Diddykins or some other stupid nickname, just Dudley.

Dudley resisted the urged to roll his eyes, snort or glare at his parents. They must be the most oblivious persons on Earth.

"Everything you´ll hear in this book is one hundred percent true." Said Dudley firmly, meaning every word of it.

His parents stared disbelievingly at him.

"Just read on, dad."

"**Harry stared. Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was**

**watching. They weren't. He looked back at the snake and winked, too.**

**The snake jerked its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised**

**its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry a look that said quite plainly:**

**"I get that all the time."**

**"I know," **

Vernon opened his mouth but Dudley interrupted before he could say something.

"_Read on_,dad. I want to end this chapter today."

"**Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn't sure the**

**snake could hear him. "It must be really annoying."**

**The snake nodded vigorously.**

**"Where do you come from, anyway?" Harry asked.**

**The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. Harry**

**peered at it.**

**Boa Constrictor, Brazil.**

**"Was it nice there?"**

_Only Harry would be talking with a snake this way, like if it was completely normal. _ThoughtDudley with a mental chuckle.

**The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry read on:**

**This specimen was bred in the zoo. "Oh, I see - so you've never been to**

**Brazil?"**

**As the snake shook its head, a deafening shout behind Harry made both of**

**them jump.**

**"DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!"**

**Dudley came waddling toward them as fast as he could.**

**"Out of the way, you," he said, punching Harry in the ribs. Caught by**

**surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor. What came next happened**

**so fast no one saw how it happened - one second, Piers and Dudley were**

**leaning right up close to the glass,"**

_Here it comes. _Dudley mentally prepared himself, for what he didn´t really know, it had all happened and his parents knew about this already. 

"**the next, they had leapt back with**

**howls of horror.**

**Harry sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank**

**had vanished. The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering**

**out onto the floor. People throughout the reptile house screamed and**

**started running for the exits.**

**As the snake slid swiftly past him, Harry could have sworn a low,**

**hissing voice said, "Brazil, here I come... Thanksss, amigo." **

"The snake could really talk?" Petunia´s eyes looked like they might pop out of their holes.

"Seems like it." Said Vernon with a slightly disgusted expression, he was disgusted that freaks could talk with such disgustful creatures.

"**The keeper of the reptile house was in shock.**

**"But the glass," he kept saying, "where did the glass go?"**

**The zoo director himself made Aunt Petunia a cup of strong, sweet tea**

**while he apologized over and over again. Piers and Dudley could only**

**gibber. As far as Harry had seen, the snake hadn't done anything except**

**snap playfully at their heels as it passed, but by the time they were**

**all back in Uncle Vernon's car, Dudley was telling them how it had**

**nearly bitten off his leg, while Piers was swearing it had tried to**

**squeeze him to death. But worst of all, for Harry at least, was Piers**

**calming down enough to say, "Harry was talking to it, weren't you,**

**Harry?" **

Dudley thought, that if he ever met Piers again, he would tell him one or another thing – he had come to like Harry very much since they started reading these books.

"**Uncle Vernon waited until Piers was safely out of the house before**

**starting on Harry. He was so angry he could hardly speak. He managed to**

**say, "Go - cupboard - stay - no meals," before he collapsed into a**

**chair, and Aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large brandy.**

**Harry lay in his dark cupboard much later, wishing he had a watch. He**

**didn't know what time it was and he couldn't be sure the Dursleys were**

**asleep yet. Until they were, he couldn't risk sneaking to the kitchen**

**for some food." **

"He took our food? Oh, so it´s not enough with that he is lazy and don´t do his chores, sneaks behind our back and plays video games and get into trouble wherever he goes, HE TAKES OUR FOOD WITHOUT PERMISSON WHEN HE IS SUPPOSED TO BE PUNISHED - MEANING HE CAN´T HAVE ANY FOOD!" Vernon's voice became higher and higher with each word, until he was yelling on the top of his lungs with a tomato face.

"I think it´s just sad." said Dudley.

This caught Vernon really off guard.

"How is it sad?" he asked, his face began to be just pig pink.

"That he simply didn´t had enough to eat. He was practically starving here."

Petunia couldn´t help but agree a little.

"**He'd lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable years, as**

**long as he could remember, ever since he'd been a baby and his parents**

**had died in that car crash. He couldn't remember being in the car when**

**his parents had died. Sometimes, when he strained his memory during long**

**hours in his cupboard, he came up with a strange vision: a blinding**

**flash of green light and a burning pain on his forehead. This, he**

**supposed, was the crash, though he couldn't imagine where all the green**

**light came from. He couldn't remember his parents at all. His aunt and**

**uncle never spoke about them, and of course he was forbidden to ask**

**questions. There were no photographs of them in the house." **

_Actually, there is, just not were anyone could see them. _Thought Petunia.

"**When he had been younger, Harry had dreamed and dreamed of some unknown**

**relation coming to take him away, but it had never happened; the**

**Dursleys were his only family. Yet sometimes he thought (or maybe hoped)**

**that strangers in the street seemed to know him. Very strange strangers**

**they were, too.**

**A tiny man in a violet top hat had bowed to him once**

**while out shopping with Aunt Petunia and Dudley. After asking Harry**

**furiously if he knew the man, Aunt Petunia had rushed them out of the**

**shop without buying anything. A wild-looking old woman dressed all in**

**green had waved merrily at him once on a bus. A bald man in a very long**

**purple coat had actually shaken his hand in the street the other day and**

**then walked away without a word. The weirdest thing about all these**

**people was the way they seemed to vanish the second Harry tried to get a**

**closer look." **

"They must be wizards." Thought Dudley aloud.

His parents scolded him for using the forbidden word.

"**At school, Harry had no one. Everybody knew that Dudley's gang hated**

**that odd Harry Potter in his baggy old clothes and broken glasses, and**

**nobody liked to disagree with Dudley's gang." **

Dudley flinched.

"And that was the end of it." finished Vernon. "Who want to read next?"

"I´ll read." said Petunia and took the book.

"**Chapter 3: Letters from no one." **

**A/N: Here it is! Sorry you had to wait; it took some time to write. I hope you´re happy with it anyway. **

**Here are some reviewers who have asked me some things that I´m going to answer: **

**To ****Georgina: ****yes, the plan is to write of the books. Even though it will take a really long time, but I´ll probably do it. **

**To ****Samantha marks: **** I´m glad that you come up with some unusual ideas, but I won´t have Hermione as Harrys wife, and I won´t bring back Harrys parents to life ether, because I don´t think it fit in this story. **

**In the next chapter after the next chapter I want to add someone. Not Harry, or anyone else in the golden trio (yet) but someone else, maybe from the Weaslys, like George or perhaps Ginny. Or Hagrid. If you have any ideas, tell me. I need some. **

**I thought of something. When Harry comes back, would it be a good idea to have Teddy with him? Just a thought. **

**Thanks for reading and reviewing, and by the way, if there are any word that you don´t understand at all, it can be because I accidently have written it in Swedish. Like prologue/prolog. **


	5. Chapter 3 letters from no one

**Disclaimer: I don´t own Harry Potter. **

"**Chapter 3: letters from no one." **

All the Dursleys shared glances, all three thinking about that… uncomfortable time when it rained letters into their house.

"**The escape of the Brazilian boa constrictor earned Harry his**

**longest-ever punishment. By the time he was allowed out of his cupboard**

**again, the summer holidays had started and Dudley had already broken his**

**new video camera, crashed his remote control airplane, and, first time**

**out on his racing bike, knocked down old Mrs. Figg as she crossed Privet**

**Drive on her crutches." **

Dudley winched. _Why was I such a brat?_

"**Harry was glad school was over, but there was no escaping Dudley's gang,**

**who visited the house every single day. Piers, Dennis, Malcolm, and**

**Gordon were all big and stupid, but as Dudley was the biggest and**

**stupidest of the lot, he was the leader. The rest of them were all quite**

**happy to join in Dudley's favorite sport: Harry Hunting." **

Dudley winched again. _I wasn´t a brat, I was a cruel idiot! _He thought, _very_ disgusted with his old self.

Petunia glanced at her son.

"You really hunted him? Maybe that were a bit too much, you could tease him and stuff, but hunt him is not so good, don´t you think? It can´t be so good for him. He needed energy for his chores" she scolded him softly.

Dudley only nodded, he agreed completely and much more.

Vernon, on the other hand, did absolutely _not_ agree.

"Nonsense! A freak-" Dudley glared at him. "An _un-normal_ person like him is absolutely okay to chase, don´t worry, he was able to do his chores, right? If he was able to do them, he was in a perfectly good condition."

"I don´t agree. I don´t think Harry would ether." stated Dudley. 

"**This was why Harry spent as much time as possible out of the house,**

**wandering around and thinking about the end of the holidays, where he**

**could see a tiny ray of hope. When September came he would be going off**

**to secondary school and, for the first time in his life, he wouldn't be**

**with Dudley. Dudley had been accepted at Uncle Vernon's old private**

**school, Smeltings." **

The named man was looking very proud – ether at the mention of his old school or at the mention of that Dudley was going there.

**Piers Polkiss was going there too. Harry, on the**

**other hand, was going to Stonewall High, the local public school. Dudley**

**thought this was very funny.**

**"They stuff people's heads down the toilet the first day at Stonewall,"**

**he told Harry. "Want to come upstairs and practice?"**

**"No, thanks," said Harry. "The poor toilet's never had anything as**

**horrible as your head down it - it might be sick." Then he ran, before**

**Dudley could work out what he'd said." **

"What the hell! What an insult! Our Dudley´s head is very handsome and he´s very intelligent!" Vernon shouted.

"You know, I didn´t figure what he meant until now. So I guess I wasn´t exactly very bright, wasn´t I?" confessed Dudley.

That shut Vernon up. He´s right. The insult was a no-brainer.

"**One day in July, Aunt Petunia took Dudley to London to buy his Smeltings**

**uniform, leaving Harry at Mrs. Figg's. Mrs. Figg wasn 't as bad as**

**usual. It turned out she'd broken her leg tripping over one of her cats,**

**and she didn't seem quite as fond of them as before. She let Harry watch**

**television and gave him a bit of chocolate cake that tasted as though**

**she'd had it for several years." **

Dudley made a gagging sound.

"**That evening, Dudley paraded around the living room for the family in**

**his brand-new uniform. Smeltings' boys wore maroon tailcoats, orange**

**knickerbockers, and flat straw hats called boaters. They also carried**

**knobbly sticks, used for hitting each other while the teachers weren't**

**looking. This was supposed to be good training for later life.**

**As he looked at Dudley in his new knickerbockers, Uncle Vernon said**

**gruffly that it was the proudest moment of his life. Aunt Petunia burst**

**into tears and said she couldn't believe it was her Ickle Dudleykins,"**

"Mom" interrupted ´Ickle Dudleykins´ who suddenly remembered something he should have taken care of a long time ago. "could you, eh, please stop calling me these nicknames? They are – well - a _bit _embarrassing." he asked politely, careful to not hurt his mother. She hadn´t meant any harm.

Petunia sighed. She knew he was right. She knew she should have stopped with the nicknames about ten years ago, but she just didn´t want to.

"**he looked so handsome and grown-up. Harry didn't trust himself to speak. He**

**thought two of his ribs might already have cracked from trying not to**

**laugh." **

As on cue, a photo of an eleven year old Dudley Dursley catches the older Dudleys eye, and he understood exactly what Harry had meant. He looked ridiculous!

Vernon and Petunia did not think it was funny at all.

"**There was a horrible smell in the kitchen the next morning when Harry**

**went in for breakfast. It seemed to be coming from a large metal tub in**

**the sink. He went to have a look. The tub was full of what looked like**

**dirty rags swimming in gray water.**

**"What's this?" he asked Aunt Petunia. Her lips tightened as they always**

**did if he dared to ask a question.**

**"Your new school uniform," she said.**

**Harry looked in the bowl again.**

**"Oh," he said, "I didn't realize it had to be so wet."**

**"Don`t be stupid," snapped Aunt Petunia. "I'm dyeing some of Dudley's old**

**things gray for you. It'll look just like everyone else's when I've**

**finished.**

Dudley looked very skeptical. _Poor Harry, good thing he went to Hog-whatever-the-name-was instead. _

**Harry seriously doubted this, but thought it best not to argue. He sat**

**down at the table and tried not to think about how he was going to look**

**on his first day at Stonewall High - like he was wearing bits of old**

**elephant skin, probably.**

**Dudley and Uncle Vernon came in, both with wrinkled noses because of the**

**smell from Harry's new uniform. Uncle Vernon opened his newspaper as**

**usual and Dudley banged his Smelting stick, which he carried everywhere,**

**on the table.**

**They heard the click of the mail slot and flop of letters on the doormat.**

**"Get the mail, Dudley," said Uncle Vernon from behind his paper.**

**"Make Harry get it."**

**"Get the mail, Harry."**

**"Make Dudley get it."**

**"Poke him with your Smelting stick, Dudley."**

**Harry dodged the Smelting stick and went to get the mail. Three things**

**lay on the doormat: a postcard from Uncle Vernon's sister Marge, who was**

**vacationing on the Isle of Wight, a brown envelope that looked like a**

**bill, and - a letter for Harry. **

"Stupid letter" muttered Vernon.

Dudley thought that it wasn´t the letter that was stupid, it was his parents who didn´t let Harry read it. If he had read it, they hadn´t gone to that hut and Dudley would never have had that stupid pig tail!

**Harry picked it up and stared at it, his heart twanging like a giant**

**elastic band. No one, ever, in his whole life, had written to him. Who**

**would? He had no friends, no other relatives - he didn't belong to the**

**library, so he'd never even got rude notes asking for books back. Yet**

**here it was, a letter, addressed so plainly there could be no mistake:**

**Mr. H. Potter**

**The Cupboard under the Stairs**

**4 Privet Drive**

**Little Whinging**

**Surrey **

"Why did they write about the cupboard in the address? Wasn´t it enough his name and where he lived?" wondered Dudley.

Vernon snorted scornfully.

"They are freaks. They aren´t like us." He said like if it was obvious.

Dudley glared at his father.

**The envelope was thick and heavy, made of yellowish parchment, and the**

**address was written in emerald-green ink. There was no stamp.**

**Turning the envelope over, his hand trembling, Harry saw a purple wax**

**seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, an eagle, a badger, and a snake**

**surrounding a large letter H.**

**"Hurry up, boy!" shouted Uncle Vernon from the kitchen. "What are you**

**doing, checking for letter bombs?" He chuckled at his own joke."**

Just like he did now.

"**Harry went back to the kitchen, still staring at his letter. He handed**

**Uncle Vernon the bill and the postcard, sat down, and slowly began to**

**open the yellow envelope.**

**Uncle Vernon ripped open the bill, snorted in disgust, and flipped over**

**the postcard.**

**"Marge's ill," he informed Aunt Petunia. "Ate a funny whelk. -."**

**"Dad!" said Dudley suddenly. "Dad, Harry's got something!"**

**Harry was on the point of unfolding his letter, which was written on the**

**same heavy parchment as the envelope, when it was jerked sharply out of**

**his hand by Uncle Vernon." **

"Why didn´t you just let him read it? If you had I wouldn´t have had that pig tail!" groaned Dudley.

"It wasn´t our fault that the big stupid oaf did that to you. If they had just left us alone nothing would have happened." defended Petunia.

"It was Harrys right to read that letter!"

"And go to that freak school? Never!" growled Vernon.

"If he wanted to go to the _wizard_ school, he could! Now continue reading, mom!"

**"That's mine!" said Harry, trying to snatch it back.**

**"Who'd be writing to you?" sneered Uncle Vernon, shaking the letter open**

**with one hand and glancing at it. His face went from red to green faster**

**than a set of traffic lights. And it didn't stop there. Within seconds**

**it was the grayish white of old porridge.**

**"P-P-Petunia!" he gasped.**

**Dudley tried to grab the letter to read it, but Uncle Vernon held it**

**high out of his reach. Aunt Petunia took it curiously and read the first**

**line. For a moment it looked as though she might faint. She clutched her**

**throat and made a choking noise.**

**"Vernon! Oh my goodness - Vernon!"**

_What´s so terrible about the letter? It´s just a letter! _Thought Dudley, still angry.

**They stared at each other, seeming to have forgotten that Harry and**

**Dudley were still in the room. Dudley wasn't used to being ignored. He**

**gave his father a sharp tap on the head with his Smelting stick.**

**"I want to read that letter," he said loudly. "I want to read it," said**

**Harry furiously, "as it's mine."**

**"Get out, both of you," croaked Uncle Vernon, stuffing the letter back**

**inside its envelope.**

**Harry didn't move.**

"**I WANT MY LETTER!" he shouted.**

**"Let me see it!" demanded Dudley. **

**"OUT!" roared Uncle Vernon, and he took both Harry and Dudley by the**

**scruffs of their necks and threw them into the hall, slamming the**

**kitchen door behind them. Harry and Dudley promptly had a furious but**

**silent fight over who would listen at the keyhole; Dudley won, so Harry,**

**his glasses dangling from one ear, lay flat on his stomach to listen at**

**the crack between door and floor.**

**"Vernon," Aunt Petunia was saying in a quivering voice, "look at the**

**address - how could they possibly know where he sleeps? You don't think**

**they're watching the house?"**

**"Watching - spying - might be following us," muttered Uncle Vernon**

**wildly." **

"That´s just sounds paranoid. Why would they follow us?" wondered Dudley incredulously, finally calming down.

**"But what should we do, Vernon? Should we write back? Tell them we don't**

**want -"**

**Harry could see Uncle Vernon's shiny black shoes pacing up and down the**

**kitchen.**

**"No," he said finally. "No, we'll ignore it. If they don't get an**

**answer... Yes, that's best... we won't do anything..."**

**"But -"**

**"I'm not having one in the house, Petunia! Didn't we swear when we took**

**him in we'd stamp out that dangerous nonsense?"**

"Stamp out? How did you try to ´stamp out´ magic? You didn´t- didn´t.. _hit_ him, didn´t you?" Dudley´s eyes where wide in fright. His parents were cruel to Harry, but they would never hit him, right?

"No, we didn´t." said Petunia firmly. She would never hit Harry, even if he were a freak.

Vernon looked surprised at Petunia. Wasn´t that how they were supposed to do?

**That evening when he got back from work, Uncle Vernon did something he'd**

**never done before; he visited Harry in his cupboard.**

**"Where's my letter?" said Harry, the moment Uncle Vernon had squeezed**

**through the door. "Who's writing to me?"**

**"No one. it was addressed to you by mistake," said Uncle Vernon shortly.**

"How could the cupboard be on it then?" asked Dudley to no one in particular.

**"I have burned it."**

**"It was not a mistake," said Harry angrily, "it had my cupboard on it."**

**"SILENCE!" yelled Uncle Vernon, and a couple of spiders fell from the**

**ceiling. He took a few deep breaths and then forced his face into a**

**smile, which looked quite painful.**

**"Er - yes, Harry - about this cupboard. Your aunt and I have been**

**thinking... you're really getting a bit big for it... we think it might**

**be nice if you moved into Dudley's second bedroom."**

"You were checking if they was spying on us, didn´t you? If that letter hadn´t come, would you´d let Harry have an own room?" said Dudley, expecting a now

Petunia thought a few moments.

"Yes, but not yet." she finally answered.

**"Why?" said Harry.**

**"Don't ask questions!" snapped his uncle. "Take this stuff upstairs,**

**now."**

**The Dursleys' house had four bedrooms: one for Uncle Vernon and Aunt**

**Petunia, one for visitors (usually Uncle Vernon's sister, Marge), one**

**where Dudley slept, and one where Dudley kept all the toys and things**

**that wouldn't fit into his first bedroom. It only took Harry one trip**

**upstairs to move everything he owned from the cupboard to this room." **

"Which isn´t saying much" mumbled Dudley.

"**He sat down on the bed and stared around him. Nearly everything in here was**

**broken. The month-old video camera was lying on top of a small, working**

**tank Dudley had once driven over the next door neighbor's dog; in the**

**corner was Dudley's first-ever television set, which he'd put his foot**

**through when his favorite program had been canceled; there was a large**

**birdcage, which had once held a parrot that Dudley had swapped at school**

**for a real air rifle, which was up on a shelf with the end all bent**

**because Dudley had sat on it. Other shelves were full of books. They**

**were the only things in the room that looked as though they'd never been**

**touched." **

_I won´t ever again go back to the one I was. I was so spoiled. How did anyone stand being near me? And I will read these books upstairs. Maybe they´re good. _

"**From downstairs came the sound of Dudley bawling at his mother," I don't**

**want him in there... I need that room... make him get out..." **

"You already have a room, you stupid brat! You don´t need it!" Dudley yelled at the younger book-Dudley.

His parents looked very weirdly at him.

"Why are you yelling at the book? And why are you calling yourself stupid brat?" asked Petunia.

"Because no one said it back then, so I´m saying it now."

"**Harry sighed and stretched out on the bed. Yesterday he'd have given**

**anything to be up here. Today he'd rather be back in his cupboard with**

**that letter than up here without it.**

**Next morning at breakfast, everyone was rather quiet. Dudley was in**

**shock. He'd screamed, whacked his father with his Smelting stick, been**

**sick on purpose, kicked his mother, and thrown his tortoise through the**

**greenhouse roof, and he still didn't have his room back." **

_Good thing, too, or Harry would probably live in the cupboard until we left last year _thought Dudley.

"**Harry was thinking about this time yesterday and bitterly wishing he'd opened the**

**letter in the hall. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia kept looking at each**

**other darkly.**

**When the mail arrived, Uncle Vernon, who seemed to be trying to be nice**

**to Harry, made Dudley go and get it. They heard him banging things with**

**his Smelting stick all the way down the hall. Then he shouted, "There's**

**another one! 'Mr. H. Potter, The Smallest Bedroom, 4 Privet Drive -'"**

**With a strangled cry, Uncle Vernon leapt from his seat and ran down the**

**hall, Harry right behind him. Uncle Vernon had to wrestle Dudley to the**

**ground to get the letter from him, which was made difficult by the fact**

**that Harry had grabbed Uncle Vernon around the neck from behind. After a**

**minute of confused fighting, in which everyone got hit a lot by the**

**Smelting stick, Uncle Vernon straightened up, gasping for breath, with**

**Harry's letter clutched in his hand.**

**"Go to your cupboard - I mean, your bedroom," he wheezed at Harry.**

**Dudley - go - just go.**

Dudley frowned.

"That´s unfair. I could do whatever I wanted, but Harry had to be in his room. You should have sent me to my room, too." He lectured.

Vernon and Petunia shared a weird look. This was at the very least strange – their own son giving them lectures – about their _parenting_ of all things.

**Harry walked round and round his new room. Someone knew he had moved out**

**of his cupboard and they seemed to know he hadn't received his first**

**letter. Surely that meant they'd try again? And this time he'd make sure**

**they didn't fail. He had a plan. **

"And that one worked out well." Muttered Vernon.

"What happened?" wondered Dudley, who didn´t remember what happened.

Vernon's face told him enough. It had hurt.

"**The repaired alarm clock rang at six o'clock the next morning. Harry**

**turned it off quickly and dressed silently. He mustn't wake the**

**Dursleys. He stole downstairs without turning on any of the lights.**

**He was going to wait for the postman on the corner of Privet Drive and**

**get the letters for number four first. His heart hammered as he crept**

**across the dark hall toward the front door -**

**Harry leapt into the air; he'd trodden on something big and squashy on**

**the doormat - something alive! **

"You?" Dudley looked at his dad.

Vernon made a face. Dudley suddenly realized how hilarious his dad´s faces is, with his large mustache, big cheeks and small eyes. By some mysterious reason, Dudley had a big coughing fit. I can´t imagine why, can you?

**Lights clicked on upstairs and to his horror Harry realized that the**

**big, squashy something had been his uncle's face. Uncle Vernon had been**

**lying at the foot of the front door in a sleeping bag, clearly making**

**sure that Harry didn't do exactly what he'd been trying to do. He**

**shouted at Harry for about half an hour and then told him to go and make**

**a cup of tea. Harry shuffled miserably off into the kitchen and by the**

**time he got back, the mail had arrived, right into Uncle Vernon's lap. **

_Just give him the stupid letter. Just give him it! _Thought Dudley.

**Harry could see three letters addressed in green ink.**

**I want -" he began, but Uncle Vernon was tearing the letters into**

**pieces before his eyes. Uncle Vernon didn´t go to work that day. He**

**stayed at home and nailed up the mail slot. **

"By the way dad, the nailed mail slot, running away, burning and tearing the letter and everything else was _way _too much." Dudley said it like if it was the weather he was talking about, but the glint in his eyes showed that he meant it.

Vernon muttered something about "doing what he must to protect his family from the freaks."

**"See," he explained to Aunt Petunia through a mouthful of nails, "if**

**they can't deliver them they'll just give up."**

**"I'm not sure that'll work, Vernon."**

**"Oh, these people's minds work in strange ways, Petunia, they're not**

**like you and me," said Uncle Vernon,**

Dudley glared at him.

**trying to knock in a nail with the piece of fruitcake Aunt Petunia had just brought him.**

**On Friday, no less than twelve letters arrived for Harry. As they**

**couldn't go through the mail slot they had been pushed under the door,**

**slotted through the sides, and a few even forced through the small**

**window in the downstairs bathroom.**

**Uncle Vernon stayed at home again. After burning all the letters, he got**

**out a hammer and nails and boarded up the cracks around the front and**

**back doors so no one could go out. He hummed "Tiptoe Through the Tulips"**

**as he worked, and jumped at small noises. **

"Paranoid." Mumbled Dudley under his breath.

**On Saturday, things began to get out of hand. Twenty-four letters to**

**Harry found their way into the house, rolled up and hidden inside each**

**of the two dozen eggs that their very confused milkman had handed Aunt**

**Petunia through the living room window. While Uncle Vernon made furious**

**telephone calls to the post office and the dairy trying to find someone**

**to complain to, Aunt Petunia shredded the letters in her food processor.**

**"Who on earth wants to talk to you this badly?" Dudley asked Harry in**

**amazement. **

**On Sunday morning, Uncle Vernon sat down at the breakfast table looking**

**tired and rather ill, but happy.**

**"No post on Sundays," he reminded them cheerfully as he spread marmalade**

**on his newspapers, "no damn letters today -" **

"Dad, did you really think that they wouldn´t deliver? Every day for a week had there been delivered more and more letters, apparently not with the original post, and you thought they would stop because it was Sunday?!" said Dudley incredulously.

Vernon made a face again.

**Something came whizzing down the kitchen chimney as he spoke and caught**

**him sharply on the back of the head. Next moment, thirty or forty**

**letters came pelting out of the fireplace like bullets. The Dursleys**

**ducked, but Harry leapt into the air trying to catch one.**

**"Out! OUT!"**

**Uncle Vernon seized Harry around the waist and threw him into the hall.**

**When Aunt Petunia and Dudley had run out with their arms over their**

**faces, Uncle Vernon slammed the door shut. They could hear the letters**

**still streaming into the room, bouncing off the walls and floor.**

**"That does it," said Uncle Vernon, trying to speak calmly but pulling**

**great tufts out of his mustache at the same time. "I want you all back**

**here in five minutes ready to leave. We're going away. Just pack some**

**clothes. No arguments!" **

Dudley sighed. Why did they have to go on that trip?

"That was the biggest anti-wizard overreaction you have ever done, dad."

Dudley ignored his parents angry faces when he said the w-word and turned to his mother instead.

"And you mum, how the heck could you agree on this? It was crazy!" he scolded.

She looked very uncomfortable and taken aback by her sons scolding.

"Perhaps we did overreact but it seemed like a good idea at the time."

Actually she didn´t think it was really a sane thing to now _or_ then, but at the time it would have been the closest thing you could come to impossible to convince Vernon of anything else, and now she just tried to defend her husband´s dignity. She decided to read on.

**He looked so dangerous with half his mustache missing that no one dared**

**argue. Ten minutes later they had wrenched their way through the**

**boarded-up doors and were in the car, speeding toward the highway.**

**Dudley was sniffling in the back seat; his father had hit him round the**

**head for holding them up while he tried to pack his television, VCR, and**

**computer in his sports bag. **

Dudley glared at Vernon again.

**They drove. And they drove. Even Aunt Petunia didn't dare ask where they**

**were going. Every now and then Uncle Vernon would take a sharp turn and**

**drive in the opposite direction for a while. "Shake'em off... shake 'em**

**off," he would mutter whenever he did this. **

Dudley shook his head. His dad really sucked at hiding. And how would driving the car around make the _wizards _lose them, who probably could just keep track on them with magic? It was a really good luck that they got some help with it the second time, or they would have been screwed.

**They didn't stop to eat or drink all day. By nightfall Dudley was**

**howling. He'd never had such a bad day in his life. He was hungry, he'd**

**missed five television programs he'd wanted to see, and he'd never gone**

**so long without blowing up an alien on his computer.**

**Uncle Vernon stopped at last outside a gloomy-looking hotel on the**

**outskirts of a big city. Dudley and Harry shared a room with twin beds**

**and damp, musty sheets. Dudley snored but Harry stayed awake, sitting on**

**the windowsill, staring down at the lights of passing cars and**

**wondering...**

**They ate stale cornflakes and cold tinned tomatoes on toast for**

**breakfast the next day. They had just finished when the owner of the**

**hotel came over to their table.**

**"'Scuse me, but is one of you Mr. H. Potter? Only I got about an 'undred of these at the front desk."**

**She held up a letter so they could read the green ink address:**

**Mr. H. Potter**

**Room 17**

**Railview Hotel**

**Cokeworth **

Dudley tried very hard not to snigger because of two things: the memory of his father´s face back when he saw the letter; angry and disbelivig. The other reason is that his dad´s face looked nearly the same in the present, the only difference is that his hair and mustache are a little more grey. Priceless!

**Harry made a grab for the letter but Uncle Vernon knocked his hand out**

**of the way. The woman stared. **

Dudley glared at Vernon and sent the book a grateful look.

"Finally someone who reacts the right way" muttered he under his breath.

**"I'll take them," said Uncle Vernon, standing up quickly and following**

**her from the dining room.**

**Wouldn't it be better just to go home, dear?" Aunt Petunia suggested**

**timidly, hours later, but Uncle Vernon didn't seem to hear her. Exactly**

**what he was looking for, none of them knew. He drove them into the**

**middle of a forest, got out, looked around, shook his head, got back in**

**the car, and off they went again. The same thing happened in the middle**

**of a plowed field, halfway across a suspension bridge, and at the top of**

**a multilevel parking garage.**

**"Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he?" Dudley asked Aunt Petunia dully late that**

**afternoon.**

Dudley glanced at his dad. Vernon looked sour.

"Dad" he said cautiously and tried to keep the smugness out of his voice, but didn´t succeed very well. "you know that even if _I_ thought it, it was completely true, don´t you?"

Vernon glared and grunted, but didn´t say anything.

**Uncle Vernon had parked at the coast, locked them all inside**

**the car, and disappeared.**

**It started to rain. Great drops beat on the roof of the car. Dudley sniveled.**

**"It's Monday," he told his mother. "The Great Humberto's on tonight. I**

**want to stay somewhere with a television. "**

**Monday. This reminded Harry of something. If it was Monday - and you**

**could usually count on Dudley to know the days the week, because of**

**television - then tomorrow, Tuesday, was Harry's eleventh birthday. Of**

**course, his birthdays were never exactly fun - last year, the Dursleys**

**had given him a coat hanger and a pair of Uncle Vernon's old socks. **

Dudley exploded.

"Did we give him THAT for presents? You gave me everything I wanted, but Harry had a coat hanger and a pair of socks!? And you said _he_ cost a lot!" he took a deep breath and tried to calm down.

Petunia carefully didn´t look her son in the eyes, because deep down she knew he was right. Vernon on the other hand, didn´t understand at all what Dudley meant.

"Yes he did! We had to pay for food to give him, clothes, school and a lot of other things! It should all have been cheaper for him, as he is a freak." he exclaimed.

Dudley clenched his fist and took a few more deep breaths.

"Mom" his voice cracked with anger "read on. As you and dad has voiced his thoughts on wizards, I´ll tell you my thoughts when the chapter is over."

**Still, you weren't eleven every day.**

**Uncle Vernon was back and he was smiling. He was also carrying a long,**

**thin package and didn't answer Aunt Petunia when she asked what he'd**

**bought.**

**"Found the perfect place!" he said. "Come on! Everyone out!"**

**It was very cold outside the car. Uncle Vernon was pointing at what**

**looked like a large rock way out at sea. Perched on top of the rock was**

**the most miserable little shack you could imagine. One thing was**

**certain, there was no television in there. **

Dudley would have commented here, but he was still far too angry to say anything.

**"Storm forecast for tonight!" said Uncle Vernon gleefully, clapping his**

**hands together. "And this gentleman's kindly agreed to lend us his**

**boat!" **

**A toothless old man came ambling up to them, pointing, with a rather**

**wicked grin, at an old rowboat bobbing in the iron-gray water below**

**them. **

Petunia gagged, remembering the man´s horrible appearance.

**"I've already got us some rations," said Uncle Vernon, "so all aboard!"**

**It was freezing in the boat. Icy sea spray and rain crept down their**

**necks and a chilly wind whipped their faces. After what seemed like**

**hours they reached the rock, where Uncle Vernon, slipping and sliding,**

**led the way to the broken-down house.**

**The inside was horrible; it smelled strongly of seaweed, the wind**

**whistled through the gaps in the wooden walls, and the fireplace was**

**damp and empty. There were only two rooms.**

**Uncle Vernon's rations turned out to be a bag of chips each and four**

**bananas. He tried to start a fire but the empty chip bags just smoked**

**and shriveled up.**

**"Could do with some of those letters now, eh?" he said cheerfully. **

Vernon glared at the book as if it was its fault the giant man* had come.

**He was in a very good mood. Obviously he thought nobody stood a chance**

**of reaching them here in a storm to deliver mail. Harry privately**

**agreed, though the thought didn't cheer him up at all. **

Suddenly Vernon stopped glaring at it, as he realized two things, one good and one bad. The good one: he had once again succeeded to make Harry Potter unhappy. The bad one: Harry had _agreed_ with him!

**As night fell, the promised storm blew up around them. Spray from the**

**high waves splattered the walls of the hut and a fierce wind rattled the**

**filthy windows. Aunt Petunia found a few moldy blankets in the second room and made up a bed for Dudley on the moth-eaten sofa. **

Dudley grimaced at the memory of the uncomfortable, moth-eaten sofa. That had been the most uncomfortable place he had ever slept in, not that it says very much.

**She and Uncle Vernon went off to the lumpy bed next door, and Harry was left to find**

**the softest bit of floor he could and to curl up under the thinnest,**

**most ragged blanket. **

Then Dudley felt quite happy that he had slept on the sofa, but thought that Harry could have had a better place. He would glare at his parents, but he had done it so much lately that he had grown a bit tired of it. He would save it for later, when he would probably have an even better reason.

**The storm raged more and more ferociously as the night went on. Harry**

**couldn't sleep. He shivered and turned over, trying to get comfortable,**

**his stomach rumbling with hunger. Dudley's snores were drowned by the**

**low rolls of thunder that started near midnight. The lighted dial of**

**Dudley's watch, which was dangling over the edge of the sofa on his fat**

**wrist, told Harry he'd be eleven in ten minutes' time. He lay and**

**watched his birthday tick nearer, wondering if the Dursleys would**

**Five minutes to go. Harry heard something creak outside. He hoped the**

**roof wasn't going to fall in, although he might be warmer if it did. **

Petunia froze.

_That sounded bit suicidal. _She thought.

Nether Vernon or Dudley would understood how the last sentence sounded to her, as she had read a kind of report card from Hogwarts – and there had always been that he had done something dangerous. And even if she didn´t like Harry very much, she definitely didn´t want him to die.

"Mom? Will you read on?"

Petunia snapped back and continued to read.

**Four minutes to go. Maybe the house in Privet Drive would be so full of**

**letters when they got back that he'd be able to steal one somehow. **

Vernon opened his mouth to say something about freaks and thieves, but Petunia quieted him with a let-me-read-look.

**Three minutes to go. Was that the sea, slapping hard on the rock like**

**that? And (two minutes to go) what was that funny crunching noise? Was**

**the rock crumbling into the sea?**

**One minute to go and he'd be eleven. Thirty seconds... twenty ... ten...**

**nine - maybe he'd wake Dudley up, just to annoy him - three... two...**

**one...**

**BOOM.**

**The whole shack shivered and Harry sat bolt upright, staring at the**

**door. Someone was outside, knocking to come in. **

"and that was the end of the chapter. Dudley, would you like read?" Petunia asked her son.

"Okay" Dudley took the book and was just about to start writing when someone knocked on the door.

***I really hope you all know who it is, or you ether haven´t read Harry Potter or you have a really bad memory. **

**A/N sorry I haven´t been updating in a while, but these take really long time to write, and it´s summer, which means I´m probably won´t update so often because I´ll be doing something else then writing. **

**I´ll put up a poll thing about who is joining the story, it´ll be someone of the Weasleys. I really have no idea how to do to put up a voting poll, so please tell me. I know that some of you don't want any more characters reading, but I really want to do it. Okay? **

**To ****SirDom ****I will go with the original parings from the book. **


	6. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don´t and I never will own Harry Potter. **

There was a moment of silence. Seeing as neither of his parents wanted to open the door for some reason, Dudley got up and walked to the door. He expected that it ether was some of the neighbors who had come to welcome them back, some salesman or – which he hoped – Harry, who had come back.

But it was neither of them.

Out on the doorstep a girl in his own age stood. She had long, red hair, clear blue eyes and was quite tall. She looked familiar, but Dudley could have sworn that he never had met this girl before.

"Hello. You must be Dudley. I´m Ginny, I´m Harry´s girlfriend, he told me you would be reading about his first year and said that I could come and read with you and explain some stuff about us. Is that, um, okay?" she sounded a bit uncertain.

Dudley almost forgot to answer. He could just not_ believe_ that Harry actually had a girlfriend. ´Harry´ and ´romance´ did _not fit_ in his mind.

_How much is there really that I never knew about Harry? _ he thought.

Then he snapped back.

"Yeah, sure. Just come in."

They went into the living room where Vernon and Petunia was waiting. Vernon raised an eyebrow at the sight of Ginny.

"Who is this?" he asked.

Dudley took a deep breath, knowing that introducing Ginny would probably lead to an argument, tantrum, shouting and yelling.

"Dad, mum, this is Ginny. She is Harry´s girlfriend and is going to read with us, okay?"

Vernon´s face became an interesting color. It was some kind of mix between red, blue and purple. Petunia´s face just became very white. Ginny thought that it was most likely that both of them was going to faint. She knew that this was only to expect, as Harry had told her everything about the Dursleys – hrm, hrm – _dislike_ for wizards.

"GET HER OUT! WE WON´T HAVE ANOTHER FREAK IN THIS HOUSE LIKE THAT UNGREATFUL, LAZY-"

"HARRY IS A GOOD MAN, DAD, DON´T YOU EVER DARE TO CALL HIM-"

"SLOB, THAT EVEN THOUGH WE HAVE TAKEN HIM IN AND TAKEN GOOD CARE OF HIM-"

"SHUT UP DAD, SHUT UP!"

"YOU YOUNG MAN SHOULD NOT TALK TO YOUR FATHER LIKE THAT!"

It went on like that for two minutes. If looks could kill, Vernon would be less than ashes by now. Ginny took her wand out of pocket, pointed it at Vernon, and did a very illegal thing that she would never have done if it wouldn´t be for the part that this Muggle was calling her Harry a freak, lazy, ungrateful, slob, worthless, waste of space and countless other insults. Never mind the fact that he was calling her about the same things, she didn´t care about that.

"Silencio!"

Vernon's insults stopped. He tried to speak, but nothing came out of his mouth. Satisfied, Ginny put her wand back in her pocket. Dudley was speechless (well not _speechless, _that´s Vernon) and his chin was almost by his feet. Petunia had a terrified look at her face, about the same expression as when Dudley got his tail. She didn´t dare to talk – or scream, as she normally would have – in case she angered the witch and would get silenced too.

Ginny decided that it was time to do what she actually came here to do.

"So, maybe we should continue the book. Dudley, would you like to explain what´s happened so far?"

After a short summary, she decided that she would read, seeing as she was the only one who hadn´t read yet. They sat down and Ginny started to read.

**Chapther 4: Keeper of the Keys **

Ginny´s eyes widened realization, but kept quiet. She didn´t want to interrupt after one sentence.

**BOOM. They knocked again. Dudley jerked awake. "Where's the cannon?" he**

Ginny had a hard time keeping her voice steady.

**There was a crash behind them and Uncle Vernon came skidding into the**

**room. He was holding a rifle in his hands - now they knew what had been**

**in the long, thin package he had brought with them. **

_Like that would help much against Hagrid, who could turn that rifle into a piece of metal junk in less than twenty seconds. _Thought Ginny.

**"Who's there?" he shouted. "I warn you - I'm armed!"**

**There was a pause. Then -**

**SMASH!**

**The door was hit with such force that it swung clean off its hinges and**

**with a deafening crash landed flat on the floor.**

**A giant of a man was standing in the doorway. His face was almost**

**completely hidden by a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled **

**beard, but you could make out his eyes, glinting like black beetles**

**under all the hair. **

"And that, my ladies and gentlemen, was the great entrance of Hagrid." Ginny said, like if she was the director of a circus.

The Dursleys stared at her.

"You _know_ him?" asked Dudley unbelievingly.

She nodded.

"He is actually a really nice guy, and he gives great advice if you ever need it. He takes care of the Forbidden forest at Hogwarts and is also teacher of Care Of Magical Creatures – which fits him as he really loves animals, even the dangerous ones."

Vernon looked like he wanted to express him opinion on Hagrid – which was bad – but Ginny still hadn´t taken away the silence spell. Dudley looked a bit interested at the mention of the Forbidden forest – _why was it forbidden? – _but he decided that it could wait until later.

**The giant squeezed his way into the hut, stooping so that his head just**

**brushed the ceiling. He bent down, picked up the door, and fitted it**

**easily back into its frame. The noise of the storm outside dropped a**

**little. He turned to look at them all.**

**"Couldn't make us a cup o' tea, could yeh? It's not been an easy**

**journey..."**

**He strode over to the sofa where Dudley sat frozen with fear.**

**"Budge up, yeh great lump," said the stranger.**

"Why does he talk like that?" wondered Dudley.

Ginny thought for a moment.

"I honestly don´t know."

**Dudley squeaked and ran to hide behind his mother, who was crouching,**

**terrified, behind Uncle Vernon.**

**"An' here's Harry!" said the giant.**

**Harry looked up into the fierce, wild, shadowy face and saw that the**

**beetle eyes were crinkled in a smile.**

**"Las' time I saw you, you was only a baby," said the giant. "Yeh look a**

**lot like yer dad, but yeh've got yer mom's eyes." **

_His eyes is really beautiful _thought Ginny.

**Uncle Vernon made a funny rasping noise.**

"**I demand that you leave at once, sir!" he said. "You are breaking and**

**entering!"**

Ginny giggled. She just couldn´t ever imagine _Hagrid _as a _´sir´._ That didn´t fit him at all.

**"Ah, shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune," said the giant; he reached over**

**the back of the sofa, jerked the gun out of Uncle Vernon's hands, bent**

**it into a knot as easily as if it had been made of rubber, and threw it**

**into a corner of the room. **

"He is really strong isn´t he?" mumbled Petunia.

"Yeah. It´s very fortune that he isn´t violent, or he would have been about as bad as the giants."

"Giants exist!? For real?" exclaimed Dudley.

Vernon and Petunia both looked terrified at the thought of even bigger and more dangerous people than Hagrid.

**Uncle Vernon made another funny noise, like a mouse being trodden on.**

**"Anyway - Harry," said the giant, turning his back on the Dursleys, "a**

**very happy birthday to yeh. Got summat fer yeh here - I mighta sat on**

**it at some point, but it'll taste all right." **

Ginny smiled. Hagrid was always so nice.

**From an inside pocket of his black overcoat he pulled a slightly**

**squashed box. Harry opened it with trembling fingers. Inside was a**

**large, sticky chocolate cake with Happy Birthday Harry written on it in**

**green icing.**

**Harry looked up at the giant. He meant to say thank you, but the words**

**got lost on the way to his mouth, and what he said instead was, "Who are**

**you?" **

Dudley burst out into laughter. So did Ginny, even though she wanted to scold Harry at the same time. Vernon – still unable to speak – and Petunia had faces that were somewhere in between amused and that said _that-boy-is-so-rude-we-should-never-had-taken-him- in. _It just ended up as some kind of weird grimaces.

**The giant chuckled.**

**"True, I haven't introduced meself. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and**

**Grounds at Hogwarts."**

**He held out an enormous hand and shook Harry's whole arm.**

**"What about that tea then, eh?" he said, rubbing his hands together.**

**"I'd not say no ter summat stronger if yeh've got it, mind." **

"There were children there! He shouldn´t be asking for alcohol!" said Petunia angrily, and Ginny nodded furiously in agreement. One would think Petunia would be very discussed with herself for thinking the same as the redheaded witch, but she took it surprisingly good – just with mere self-dislike.

**His eyes fell on the empty grate with the shriveled chip bags in it and**

**he snorted. He bent down over the fireplace; they couldn't see what he**

**was doing but when he drew back a second later, there was a roaring fire**

**there. It filled the whole damp hut with flickering light and Harry felt**

**the warmth wash over him as though he'd sunk into a hot bath.**

**The giant sat back down on the sofa, which sagged under his weight, and**

**began taking all sorts of things out of the pockets of his coat: a**

**copper kettle, a squashy package of sausages, a poker, a teapot, several**

**chipped mugs,**

_Wow. How much does he have in there really? How much _can_ you put in there? _Thought Dudley. (**A/N** **The one who can answer these questions must be a genius. Or Hagrid. A/N) **

**and a bottle of some amber liquid that he took a swig from**

**before starting to make tea. Soon the hut was full of the sound and**

**smell of sizzling sausage. Nobody said a thing while the giant was**

**working, but as he slid the first six fat, juicy, slightly burnt**

**sausages from the poker, Dudley fidgeted a little. Uncle Vernon said**

**sharply, "Don't touch anything he gives you, Dudley."**

**The giant chuckled darkly.**

**"Yer great puddin' of a son don' need fattenin' anymore, Dursley, don'**

**worry." **

_The truest thing anyone has ever said to my eleven-year-old self. _Dudley thought and decided that Hagrid would be his new best friend, as he was not delusional like some other people -*cough* Vernon and Petunia *cough* - and nice to Harry.

**He passed the sausages to Harry, who was so hungry he had never tasted**

**anything so wonderful, but he still couldn't take his eyes off the**

**giant. Finally, as nobody seemed about to explain anything, he said,**

**"I'm sorry, but I still don't really know who you are."**

**The giant took a gulp of tea and wiped his mouth with the back of his**

**hand.**

**"Call me Hagrid," he said, "everyone does. An' like I told yeh, I'm**

**Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts - yeh'll know all about Hogwarts, o' course. **

Ginny glared at the Dursleys, remembering what Ron had written about Harry in some of his letters during his first year – unrepaired glasses, being even skinnier than when she first met him at the Burrow, not expecting any Christmas present, and let´s not forget – barley knowing anything about wizards!

**"Er - no," said Harry. **

Dudley joined her in the glare.

**Hagrid looked shocked.**

**"Sorry," Harry said quickly. **

"He shouldn´t be the one apologizing" muttered Ginny bitterly.

**"Sorry?" barked Hagrid, turning to stare at the Dursleys, who shrank back**

**into the shadows. "It' s them as should be sorry! I knew yeh weren't**

**gettin' yer letters but I never thought yeh wouldn't even know abou'**

**Hogwarts, fer cryin' out loud! Did yeh never wonder where yer parents**

**learned it all?" **

**"All what?" asked Harry. **

Reading what would come next, Ginny mentally cheered and promised to thank her giant friend next time she saw him.

**"ALL WHAT?" Hagrid thundered. "Now wait jus' one second!"**

**He had leapt to his feet. In his anger he seemed to fill the whole hut.**

**The Dursleys were cowering against the wall.**

**"Do you mean ter tell me," he growled at the Dursleys, "that this boy -**

**this boy! - knows nothin' abou' - about ANYTHING?"**

**Harry thought this was going a bit far. He had been to school, after**

**all, and his marks weren't bad.**

**"I know some things," he said. "I can, you know, do math and stuff." But**

**Hagrid simply waved his hand and said, "About our world, I mean. Your**

**world. My world. Yer parents' world."**

**"What world?" **

If looks could kill…

**Hagrid looked as if he was about to explode.**

**"DURSLEY!" he boomed. **

**Uncle Vernon, who had gone very pale, whispered something that sounded**

**like "Mimblewimble." **

He looked about the same now, but was it because the memory or Ginny and Dudley's killer glares?

**Hagrid stared wildly at Harry.**

**"But yeh must know about yer mom and dad," he said. "I mean, they're**

**famous. You're famous." **

For a moment, Dudley stopped glaring at his parents and turned to Ginny.

"How famous is he? I mean, how famous was he back then? How bad was that Voldy guy?"

Ginny thought hard, but couldn´t think of any word good enough to describe the Dark Lord.

"Worse than you can ever imagine. He is known as the darkest wizard of all time, and when Harry stopped him the first time, he was known all over the world after a few days. He was – and still is – a hero." She finished.

Dudley was completely stunned.

"Wow" he breathed.

**"What? My - my mom and dad weren't famous, were they?"**

**"Yeh don' know... yeh don' know..." Hagrid ran his fingers through his**

**hair, fixing Harry with a bewildered stare.**

**"Yeh don' know what yeh are?" he said finally.**

**Uncle Vernon suddenly found his voice.**

**"Stop!" he commanded. "Stop right there, sir! I forbid you to tell the**

**boy anything!" **

_Maybe I should ask the girl to lift that spell_ thought Petunia, realizing that it was almost forty minutes her husband hadn´t been able to talk, but then realized it was a bad idea for the moment, judging on Ginny's glare.

**A braver man than Vernon Dursley would have quailed under the furious**

**look Hagrid now gave him; when Hagrid spoke, his every syllable trembled**

**with rage. **

_I´m brave!_ Thought Vernon insulted.

**"You never told him? Never told him what was in the letter Dumbledore**

**left fer him? I was there! I saw Dumbledore leave it, Dursley! An'**

**you've kept it from him all these years?"**

**"Kept what from me?" said Harry eagerly.**

**"STOP! I FORBID YOU!" yelled Uncle Vernon in panic.**

**Aunt Petunia gave a gasp of horror.**

"Oh stop the drama, mom." Mumbled Dudley under his breath, too low for anyone to hear.

**"Ah, go boil yer heads, both of yeh," said Hagrid. "Harry - yer a**

**wizard."**

**There was silence inside the hut. Only the sea and the whistling wind**

**could be heard.**

**"- a what?" gasped Harry.**

**"A wizard, o' course," said Hagrid, sitting back down on the sofa, which**

**groaned and sank even lower, "an' a thumpin' good'un, I'd say, once**

**yeh've been trained up a bit. With a mum an' dad like yours, what else**

**would yeh be? An' I reckon it's abou' time yeh read yer letter." **

"Finally!" exclaimed Dudley.

**Harry stretched out his hand at last to take the yellowish envelope,**

**addressed in emerald green to Mr. H. Potter, The Floor, Hut-on-the-Rock,**

**The Sea. He pulled out the letter and read:**

**HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY**

**Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE**

**(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme**

**Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)**

**Dear Mr. Potter,**

**We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts**

**School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all**

**necessary books and equipment.**

**Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.**

**Yours sincerely,**

**Minerva McGonagall,**

**Deputy Headmistress**

**Questions exploded inside Harry's head like fireworks and he couldn't**

**decide which to ask first. After a few minutes he stammered, "What does**

**it mean, they await my owl?" **

Dudley burst out in a howling laugher.

"Of all things he could have asked, he asked _that_! It´s hilarious!"

**"Gallopin' Gorgons, that reminds me," said Hagrid, clapping a hand to**

**his forehead with enough force to knock over a cart horse, and from yet**

**another pocket inside his overcoat he pulled an owl - a real, live,**

**rather ruffled-looking owl - a long quill, and a roll of parchment. **

Eyebrows were raised at that.

**With his tongue between his teeth he scribbled a note that Harry could**

**read upside down:**

**Dear Professor Dumbledore,**

**Given Harry his letter.**

**Taking him to buy his things tomorrow.**

**Weather's horrible. Hope you're well.**

**Hagrid**

_Hrmf. My letters was much better than that._ Thought Petunia.

**Hagrid rolled up the note, gave it to the owl, which clamped it in its**

**beak, went to the door, and threw the owl out into the storm. Then he**

**came back and sat down as though this was as normal as talking on the**

**telephone.**

_Sending an owl IS as normal as talking on a telephone actually. _thought Ginny.

**Harry realized his mouth was open and closed it quickly.**

**"Where was I?" said Hagrid, but at that moment, Uncle Vernon, still**

**ashen-faced but looking very angry, moved into the firelight.**

**"He's not going," he said.**

**Hagrid grunted.**

**"I'd like ter see a great Muggle like you stop him," he said.**

**"A what?" said Harry, interested.**

**"A Muggle," said Hagrid, "it's what we call nonmagic folk like them.**

**An' it's your bad luck you grew up in a family o' the biggest Muggles I**

**ever laid eyes on."**

**"We swore when we took him in we'd put a stop to that rubbish,"**

Ginny glared.

**Said Uncle Vernon, "swore we'd stamp it out of him! Wizard indeed!" **

Ginny exploded. She took out her wand, unsilenced Vernon, and yelled at him and Petunia.

"Stamp it out? STAMP IT OUT? NOT ENOUGH WITH NOT TELLING HIM ANYTHING ABOUT OUR WORLD, YOU TRIED TO TAKE AWAY HIS MAGIC? WITH VIOLENCE? WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY TO EXPLAIN YOURSELVES?"

They just stared at her, not even Vernon – who could speak now – dared to answer.

Dudley stared at her too, but for a completely different reason.

_I totally approve of her. I´ll ask Harry if I can come on their future wedding. _

After a few minutes, Ginny had calmed down a bit. She returned to the book, but was still glaring at the older Dursleys.

**"You knew?" said Harry. "You knew I'm a - a wizard?"**

**"Knew!" shrieked Aunt Petunia suddenly. "Knew! Of course we knew! How**

**could you not be, my dratted sister being what she was?**

_Aunt Lily was a good person!_ Thought Dudley angrily.

**Oh, she got a letter just like that and disappeared off to that-that school-and came**

**home every vacation with her pockets full of frog spawn, turning teacups**

**into rats.**

"Magic isn´t allowed outside Hogwarts." Muttered Ginny.

**I was the only one who saw her for what she was - a freak!**

**But for my mother and father, oh no, it was Lily this and Lily that,**

**they were proud of having a witch in the family!"**

**She stopped to draw a deep breath and then went ranting on. It seemed**

**she had been wanting to say all this for years. **

For some reason, Petunia winched at the memory of what she would say next.

**"Then she met that Potter at school and they left and got married and**

**had you, and of course I knew you'd be just the same, just as strange,**

**just as - as - abnormal - and then, if you please, she went and got**

**herself blown up and we got landed with you!" **

_Maybe I should not have said that in that way. It was a it harsh._

**Harry had gone very white. As soon as he found his voice he said, "Blown**

**up? You told me they died in a car crash!" **

Ginny almost started yelling again.

**"CAR CRASH!" roared Hagrid, jumping up so angrily that the Dursleys**

**scuttled back to their corner. "How could a car crash kill Lily an'**

**James Potter? It's an outrage! A scandal! Harry Potter not knowin' his**

**own story when every kid in our world knows his name!" "But why? What**

**happened?" Harry asked urgently.**

**The anger faded from Hagrid's face. He looked suddenly anxious.**

**"I never expected this," he said, in a low, worried voice. "I had no**

**idea, when Dumbledore told me there might be trouble gettin' hold of**

**yeh, how much yeh didn't know. Ah, Harry, I don' know if I'm the right**

**person ter tell yeh - but someone's gotta - yeh can't go off ter**

**Hogwarts not knowin'."**

**He threw a dirty look at the Dursleys. **

_Right what we deserved. _Thought Dudley.

**"Well, it's best yeh know as much as I can tell yeh - mind, I can't**

**tell yeh everythin', it's a great myst'ry, parts of it..." **

"How much of it was a mystery?" asked Dudley curiously.

"A lot. A almost everything, actually. Most of it is still a mystery to most people. Only a very few people know everything."

Dudley frowned.

"Does Harry know?"

Ginny nodded and continued reading.

**He sat down, stared into the fire for a few seconds, and then said, **

**"It begins, I suppose, with - with a person called - but it's incredible**

**yeh don't know his name, everyone in our world knows -"**

**"Who? "**

**"Well - I don' like sayin' the name if I can help it. No one does." **

**"Why not?"**

**"Gulpin' gargoyles, Harry, people are still scared. Blimey, this is**

**difficult. See, there was this wizard who went... bad. As bad as you**

**could go. Worse. Worse than worse. His name was..." **

**Hagrid gulped, but no words came out. **

_Ha! Pathetic! Afraid of a name! _thought Vernon scornfully, but didn´t say anything, fearing he would only get silenced again.

**"Could you write it down?" Harry suggested.**

**"Nah -can't spell it. All right - Voldemort. " Hagrid shuddered.**

Ginny was amazed. _Harry actually got Hagrid to say it!_

**"Don' make me say it again. Anyway, this - this wizard, about twenty years**

**ago now, started lookin' fer followers. Got 'em, too - some were**

**afraid, some just wanted a bit o' his power, 'cause he was gettin'**

**himself power, all right. **

"So pathetic. They can´t even think for themselves!" spat Vernon with the intention to insult Ginny, but he didn´t realize that he basically just agreed with her and hundreds of other good wizards and witches.

**Dark days, Harry. Didn't know who ter trust,**

**didn't dare get friendly with strange wizards or witches... terrible**

**things happened. He was takin' over. 'Course, some stood up to him -**

**an' he killed 'em. Horribly. One o' the only safe places left was Hogwarts. **

Vernon was confused. In his head, Hogwarts was a highly dangerous and unsafe place due to all the magic, and completely without any kind of security.

"How the hell can that _school_ be safe during a war?"

Ginny ignored him and read on.

**Reckon Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was afraid of.**

**Didn't dare try takin' the school, not jus' then, anyway.**

**"Now, yer mum an' dad were as good a witch an' wizard as I ever knew.**

**Head boy an' girl at Hogwarts in their day! Suppose the myst'ry is why**

**You-Know-Who never tried to get 'em on his side before... probably knew**

**they were too close ter Dumbledore ter want anythin' ter do with the**

**Dark Side. **

_Aunt Lily and Uncle James must have been wonderful people. _Thought Dudley proudly with a smile. 

**"Maybe he thought he could persuade 'em... maybe he just wanted 'em**

**outta the way. All anyone knows is, he turned up in the village where**

**you was all living, on Halloween ten years ago. You was just a year old.**

**He came ter yer house an' - an' -"**

Then it faded.

Ginny was very upset. She knew there were nothing that could be done, but she really wished that there was some way to bring back Harrys parents.

Even Petunia was touched. It was, after all, her own sister he´s talking about.

**Hagrid suddenly pulled out a very dirty, spotted handkerchief and blew**

**his nose with a sound like a foghorn.**

**"Sorry," he said. "But it's that sad - knew yer mum an' dad, an' nicer**

**people yeh couldn't find - anyway..."**

**"You-Know-Who killed 'em. An' then - an' this is the real myst'ry of**

**the thing - he tried to kill you, too. Wanted ter make a clean job of**

**it, I suppose, or maybe he just liked killin' by then. **

_It was neither of it._ Thought Ginny grimly. Harry had told her a week after the final battle. You could say it was quite a shock.

**But he couldn't do it. Never wondered how you got that mark on yer forehead? That was no ordinary cut. That's what yeh get when a powerful, evil curse touches yeh –**

**took care of yer mum an' dad an' yer house, even - but it didn't**

**work on you, an' that's why yer famous, Harry.**

"Hmf. Ridiculous. The boy get famous because some lunatic killed his parents and tried to kill him, so what? Normal people like us can survive a bomb, and they doesn´t become gods because of that. How pathetic." Vernon spat.

"Dad!"

**No one ever lived after he decided ter kill 'em, no one except you, an' he'd killed some o' the**

**best witches an' wizards of the age - the McKinnons, the Bones,**

**the Prewetts –**

_Like my uncles._ Thought Ginny sadly.

**an' you was only a baby, an' you lived."**

**Something very painful was going on in Harry's mind. As Hagrid's story**

**came to a close, he saw again the blinding flash of green light, more**

**clearly than he had ever remembered it before - and he remembered**

**something else, for the first time in his life: a high, cold, cruel**

**laugh. **

Dudley winched. Then he suddenly remembered what he said that time right before they was attacked by the Dementors, when he taunted Harry for his nightmares. He winched again.

**Hagrid was watching him sadly.**

**"Took yeh from the ruined house myself, on Dumbledore's orders. Brought**

**yeh ter this lot..."**

**"Load of old tosh," said Uncle Vernon. Harry jumped; he had almost**

**forgotten that the Dursleys were there. Uncle Vernon certainly seemed to**

**have got back his courage.**

Ginny raised an disbelievingly eyebrow.

Dudley nearly burst out laughing.

_Dad? Courage? That doesn´t even fit even the same sentence! _

**He was glaring at Hagrid and his fists were clenched.**

**"Now, you listen here, boy," he snarled, "I accept there's something**

**strange about you, probably nothing a good beating **

Everyone froze.

Petunia stared at her husband. At the time she had been a bit, um, distracted and hadn´t noticed Vernon´s choice of words, but now.. Had he really hit Harry?

Vernon was highly uncomfortable under everyone's stares.

"Well, aren´t you going to read on?" he said, trying to remove the attention from himself.

Ginny gazed coldly back at him.

"I hate you." She said, loud and clear, and then went back to the book.

**wouldn't have cured - and as for all this about your parents, well, they were weirdos, no**

**denying it, and the world's better off without them in my opinion -**

**asked for all they got, getting mixed up with these wizarding types – **

Ginny´s voice got colder and colder by every word she read. It was obvious that she was restraining herself from hexing Vernon again.

**just what I expected, always knew they'd come to a sticky end -"**

**But at that moment, Hagrid leapt from the sofa and drew a battered pink**

**umbrella from inside his coat. Pointing this at Uncle Vernon like a**

**sword, he said, "I'm warning you, Dursley -I'm warning you - one more**

**word... " **

_..And I will send the bat-bogey hex on you. _She finished in her head.

**In danger of being speared on the end of an umbrella by a bearded giant,**

**Uncle Vernon's courage failed again; he flattened himself against the**

**wall and fell silent.**

**"That's better," said Hagrid, breathing heavily and sitting back down on**

**the sofa, which this time sagged right down to the floor.**

**Harry, meanwhile, still had questions to ask, hundreds of them.**

**"But what happened to Vol-, sorry - I mean, You-Know-Who?"**

**"Good question, Harry. Disappeared. Vanished. Same night he tried ter**

**kill you. Makes yeh even more famous. That's the biggest myst'ry, see...**

**he was gettin' more an' more powerful - why'd he go? Some say he died.**

"Well, that´s obviously bullshit." Stated Dudley.

**Codswallop, in my opinion. Dunno if he had enough**

**human left in him to die. Some say he's still out there, bidin' his**

**time, like, but I don' believe it. People who was on his side came back**

**ter ours. Some of 'em came outta kinda trances. Don´ reckon they**

**could've done if he was comin' back. **

**Most of us reckon he's still out there somewhere but lost his powers.**

**Too weak to carry on.**

_But then he got strong again. And Fred, Tonks, Lupin, Madeye, Hedwig and hundreds other people died._ Thought Ginny fiercely. 

**'Cause somethin' about you finished him, Harry.**

**There was somethin' goin' on that night he hadn't counted on - I dunno**

**what it was, no one does - but somethin' about you stumped him, all**

**right." **

**Hagrid looked at Harry with warmth and respect blazing in his eyes, but**

**Harry, instead of feeling pleased and proud, felt quite sure there had**

**been a horrible mistake. A wizard? Him? How could he possibly be? He'd**

**spent his life being clouted by Dudley, and bullied by Aunt Petunia and**

**Uncle Vernon; if he was really a wizard, why hadn't they been turned**

**into warty toads every time they'd tried to lock him in his cupboard? **

Ginny´s voice was cold as ice. Harry had told her a little about his childhood and had warned her that there would be things in the book about his home life that wasn´t entirely pleasant. She knew Harry had lived in a cupboard, and she had promised him that she would not use any magic against the Dursleys for what has happened in the past. Well, she hadn´t promised anything about the present, right?

**If he'd once defeated the greatest sorcerer in the world, how come Dudley**

**had always been able to kick him around like a football?**

**"Hagrid," he said quietly, "I think you must have made a mistake. I**

**don't think I can be a wizard."**

Ginny smirked.

**To his surprise, Hagrid chuckled.**

**"Not a wizard, eh? Never made things happen when you was scared or**

**angry?"**

**Harry looked into the fire. Now he came to think about it... every odd**

**thing that had ever made his aunt and uncle furious with him had**

**happened when he, Harry, had been upset or angry... chased by Dudley's**

**gang, he had somehow found himself out of their reach... dreading going**

**to school with that ridiculous haircut, he'd managed to make it grow**

**back... and the very last time Dudley had hit him, hadn't he got his**

**revenge, without even realizing he was doing it? Hadn't he set a boa**

**constrictor on him? **

Ginny´s mouth dropped open. She looked at Dudley.

"What terrible things did you do to make him set a boa on you?" she asked jokingly.

Dudley, on the other hand, didn´t thought it was very funny.

"I was mean all the time. That particular time I just pushed him, but still, he got angry and with all rights. Then there just happened to be so I was leaning against the glass to the Brazil boa cage."

**Harry looked back at Hagrid, smiling, and saw that Hagrid was positively**

**beaming at him.**

**"See?" said Hagrid. "Harry Potter, not a wizard - you wait, you'll be**

**right famous at Hogwarts."**

_I think ´very famous´ fits better for how famous was at Hogwarts back then. Well, at least before he discovered he was a Parselmouth… _

**But Uncle Vernon wasn't going to give in without a fight.**

**"Haven't I told you he's not going?" he hissed. "He's going to Stonewall**

**High and he'll be grateful for it. I've read those letters and he needs**

**all sorts of rubbish - spell books and wands and -"**

Dudley glared at his dad.

**"If he wants ter go, a great Muggle like you won't stop him," growled**

**Hagrid. "Stop Lily an' James Potter' s son goin' ter Hogwarts! Yer mad.**

**His name's been down ever since he was born. He's off ter the finest**

**school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world. Seven years there and he**

**won't know himself. **

_Isn´t that the most predicting thing Rubeus Hagrid has ever said, _thought Ginny thinking about how much Harry have grown up since that day he asked her mom about how to get to the platform.

**He'll be with youngsters of his own sort, fer a**

**change, an' he'll be under the greatest headmaster Hogwarts ever had**

**Albus Dumbled-"**

**"I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH HIM**

**MAGIC TRICKS!" **

"Big mistake, mr. Dursley. BIG mistake." Ginny smirked in an almost evil way.

**yelled Uncle Vernon.**

**But he had finally gone too far. Hagrid seized his umbrella and whirled**

**it over his head, "NEVER," he thundered, "- INSULT- ALBUS- DUMBLEDOREIN-**

**FRONT- OF- ME!"**

**He brought the umbrella swishing down through the air to point at Dudley**

**- there was a flash of violet light, a sound like a firecracker, a**

**sharp squeal, and the next second, Dudley was dancing on the spot with**

**his hands clasped over his fat bottom, howling in pain. When he turned**

**his back on them, Harry saw a curly pig's tail poking through a hole in**

**his trousers. **

Ginny couldn´t make it. She was howling in laughter.

Vernon's face got its famous purple color.

Dudley tried to calm him down.

"It´s alright dad. It´s actually kind of funny."

"HOW THE HELL IS THAT FUNNY?"

At Vernon´s outburst, Ginny stopped laughing.

"Because of the figure I´ve inherited from my father."

Vernon never managed to figure it out.

**Uncle Vernon roared. Pulling Aunt Petunia and Dudley into the other**

**room, he cast one last terrified look at Hagrid and slammed the door**

**behind them.**

**Hagrid looked down at his umbrella and stroked his beard.**

**"Shouldn'ta lost me temper," he said ruefully, "but it didn't work**

**anyway. Meant ter turn him into a pig, but I suppose he was so much like**

**a pig anyway there wasn't much left ter do."**

**He cast a sideways look at Harry under his bushy eyebrows.**

**"Be grateful if yeh didn't mention that ter anyone at Hogwarts," he**

**said. "I'm - er - not supposed ter do magic, strictly speakin'. **

"Why isn´t he allowed to do magic?"

**I was allowed ter do a bit ter follow yeh an' get yer letters to yeh an' stuff**

**- one o' the reasons I was so keen ter take on the job"**

**"Why aren't you supposed to do magic?" asked Harry.**

**"Oh, well - I was at Hogwarts meself but I - er - got expelled, ter**

**tell yeh the truth.**

"Serves him right." Muttered Vernon.

**In me third year. They snapped me wand in half an'**

**everything. But Dumbledore let me stay on as gamekeeper. Great man,**

**Dumbledore." "Why were you expelled?"**

**"It's gettin' late and we've got lots ter do tomorrow," said Hagrid**

**loudly. "Gotta get up ter town, get all yer books an' that."**

**He took off his thick black coat and threw it to Harry.**

**"You can kip under that," he said. "Don' mind if it wriggles a bit, I**

**think I still got a couple o' dormice in one o' the pockets." **

"And that´s the end."

"Can I read now?" asked Dudley.

"Sure. Can I just send an owl and tell Harry everything's okay?"

"Okay. Say hello from me." 

**A/N: Sorry for the wait. **

**To Guest: ****It´s a really funny idea, but I think that none of the ´Golden trio´ should enter yet. **

**To everyone else:**** thank you for everything! **


End file.
